During its first meeting of the semester, the Student Services Finance Committee heard proposals from two prominent student organizations for eligibility to receive student segregated-fee funding Thursday.

The Lesbian Bisexual Gay Transsexual Campus Center and Adventure Learning Programs pled their cases to receive student funding taken from undergraduate tuition fees. If the LGBTCC and ALPS are deemed qualified for funding, they must have budgets approved before they are allocated funding for the 2006-07 academic year.

SSFC will decide whether the two organizations are eligible Monday.

At the hearings, SSFC members followed the proposals with critical questions to determine whether the two groups fit requirements to receive funding.

Among other prerequisites, student organizations must provide a specific and identifiable educational benefit to all University of Wisconsin students and not overlap other organizational services provided to them.

"The ropes course is an extremely valuable tool, and we are currently the only organization that provides [the course] free of charge to students," Noah Annes of ALPS said, adding over 100 other student organizations utilized their services in 2004-05.

That statement raised concerns from SSFC representative Brad Vogel, who questioned whether it substantiated any potential overlap in services.

"Are you autonomous in the decisions you make and the way you spend your money?" added SSFC representative Lorenzo Edwards.

Defending their organization, ALPS members said they rely completely on segregated fees for funding, so much so that they cannot hold their clientele accountable for expenditures.

"One idea we had thought of was the possibility of holding other groups responsible," Annes said, "because I don't think we are in a position to hold anyone accountable."

While hearing LGBTCC's eligibility proposal, SSFC members questioned whether the center was open to all students.

LGBTCC representative Max Camp said the organization is not limited to homo, bi and transsexuals, but also their "allies" — some of whom may feel discriminated against for other reasons.

"Your sexuality is just one facet of yourself," Camp said. "I think in terms of how do we conceptualize issues, we're trying to incorporate racial and sexism issues."

SSFC representative Catherine Quinn questioned whether LGBTCC was an inclusive organization.

"You said that you were providing the use of the space to all students, [but] are all students allowed to participate in all services?" Quinn said. "Are non-LGBT students able to be [in your mentoring program]?"

Camp said LGBTCC is as inclusive as it can be, given its budget, and would accept many more students if it could reach out to them.

"Our services are open to everyone. Students need to self-evaluate … to see if they have the qualifications to provide that service," he said. "As staff, it's our job to make [all students] feel as welcome as possible. … I think one thing we face is not enough budget to expand our services … to get more students involved."

Both ALPS and LGBTCC's eligibility to receive segregated-fee funding will go up for review Monday.