The Student Services Finance Committee approved funding eligibility for the student organization Roman Catholic Foundation as well as minimal funding for Student Tenant Union Monday night.
To be eligible to receive funding, a student group must have students as their main focus, provide no academic credit for their service, reach all University of Wisconsin students and have no equivalent on campus.
The majority of the SSFC members determined that the Roman Catholic Foundation meets the requirements to receive funding, but amended many aspects of their budget including eliminating a spring graduate retreat, mini-social courses for members, mileage and food expenses, as well as other retreat and theatre programs.
The committee felt that these programs were excessive, served more to entertain rather than educate members, or didn’t offer a service to the University of Wisconsin campus community as a whole.
“For some of the retreats, it’s not clear what their direct service is,” said SSFC Secretary and Badger Herald columnist Kyle Szarzynski.
RCF funding has been a point of contention and source of lawsuits over the last few years due to its religious nature. A September 24 federal district judge ruled that while the university could withhold funds from religious groups, the university has not provided “any reason that justifies” previous denials of funding for the Catholic group.
The organization was granted funding by a vote of 4-0-0. The final budget for the organization was $167,586.
The Student Tenant Union was only granted minimal funding after the committee rejected the decision to accept their budget application. All student organizations are granted minimal funding of about $4,600.
“The organization didn’t follow our regulations, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to vote on their budget application,” said SSFC Chair Kurt Gosselin. “We should fund the organization by granting them the minimal budget guaranteed to all student organizations.”
The committee passed the decision to minimally fund the organization by a vote of 4-0-0.
The student groups Sex Out Loud and Wunk Sheek also had their eligibility hearings at the meeting. Funding decisions for the groups are set for Thursday.