The Student Services Finance Committee heard budget proposals Monday from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Student Council and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, a Mexican and Chicano student organization.
Moving meticulously through its agenda, SSFC was only able to begin debate on a final budget decision for Adventure Learning Programs — a student organization that leads groups through team and leadership building workshops on the University of Wisconsin campus — before running out of time. The committee hopes to make a final decision at its next meeting Nov. 10.
Time constraints also inhibited the committee from hearing a budget proposal from the University of Wisconsin Roman Catholic Foundation, tabling the foundation's budget presentation until its next meeting on Thursday.
Despite facing a longer-than-usual wait to present their budget proposals, representatives of both CALS Student Council and MEChA left Monday's meeting confident their budgets would be approved by SSFC.
Craig Kohn, treasurer for CALS Student Council, presented the organization's $27,000 budget proposal and spoke about the council's important role as a governing body for the 34 student organizations within CALS and as a "liaison" between CALS students, teachers and administrators.
Kohn said he believes SSFC members would respond to CALS Student Council's essential role at UW by funding the council sufficiently.
"I am very confident [the committee] will allocate at least most [of the proposed budget]," Kohn said. "The programs that we're asking [funding for] are necessary for what we're trying to accomplish and what's been requested from us by the student body."
As the only Chicano student organization on the UW campus, MEChA representatives felt the organization deserved the 11 percent budget increase they requested for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. MEChA Representative Evelyn Cuevas said the increase would help the organization's goal of educating the student body on Chicano issues through art and cultural events.
"We're pretty confident," MEChA Representative Jose Calixco said after presenting MEChA's $54,000 proposed budget. "The past few years we've been doing a very good job and we have a history; our projects are really good."
Both MEChA and CALS Student Council will have to wait until Thursday, however, to see just how much of their proposed budgets SSFC will allocate.
ALPS will also have to wait until Thursday to learn how much funding they will receive.
During their brief discussion on the ALPS budget, though, SSFC members did praise the organization's "fiscally responsible" budget proposal, as well as the organization's function on campus.
"To see an increase in services with only a 2 percent increase in budget is commendable," SSFC Representative Zach Frey said while the committee began discussion on the $115,000 proposed budget. "Look at the number of organizations who use their services, they're always booked."
In discussing the ALPS budget, Frey conveyed the overall feeling of a committee that appeared frustrated with the sometimes-slow proceedings Monday.
"If every organization can do [what ALPS did] then our job would be a lot easier," Frey said.
