Outgoing University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley overturned two decisions made by the student finance committee this summer, granting contract status to a student organization and funding another for the upcoming academic year.
The now former chancellor granted the Roman Catholic Foundation of UW funding after the Student Services Finance Committee denied eligibility under criteria Wiley said was not specific enough.
“The identified challenges to interpreting [the criteria] provide little comfort that RCF had adequate notice and understanding of the standards it was required to meet in order to satisfy [it],” Wiley wrote in his decision letter.
A second group, the Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group, was granted a contract that allows them to hire non-university paid employees for this year.
Wiley ruled WISPIRG should not have a contract status in the future but gave them a one-year exemption to comply with UW System policy on hiring non-university staff. The group currently employs three part-time employees and a registered lobbyist at the Capitol.
“We’re one of the biggest civic engagement groups on campus, and it would be a big shame to fundamentally change us, especially in the middle of a political election,” said WISPIRG Chair Tony Uhl.
Wiley, who had been chancellor for the past seven years, told The Badger Herald in May he chose to not interfere with decisions made by SSFC unless they violated state law.
But his overturn of SSFC’s decision raises questions over the chancellor’s role in allocating student segregated fees and how much autonomy students should be given.
In a recent interview, incoming Chancellor Biddy Martin said she looks forward to working with student government, though it is too early to determine how much involvement she will choose to have in the allocation of segregated fee dollars.
“At Cornell, the student government and the finance committee really have responsibility for the allocation of students fees, and I have never gotten involved in an effort to change that or to influence it in any way,” Martin said. “But I don’t want to say that I would never do that because I’m not that familiar with how responsibilities are assigned here.”
Martin said letting students be responsible for managing their own fees is generally a “good model,” but there should be limits to that freedom, especially if that distribution conflicts with university policy.
“I just don’t know where that line is right now at Wisconsin, and I will certainly make it my business to find out,” she added.
SSFC Chair Kurt Gosselin said he was surprised by Wiley’s decision, but he understands his judgment on this case. But in the future, he hopes matters like this will be handled differently.
“I would expect and hope for, especially on behalf of student rights, that the autonomy of making these decisions is given to students through the SSFC and ASM,” Gosselin said.
RCF-UW will operate with a $196,835.10 budget, and WISPIRG will have $130,442.75 for the 2008-09 academic year.
RCF-UW did not return calls as of press time.
