The Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council approved a budget increase of $33,500 for the Student Activity Center Wednesday.
SC member Lauren Vollrath said the SAC Governing Board determined the current budget was inadequate to pay for the amount of staffing they want for the center. She added the current budget would only pay for one student at $9.19 per hour.
“One person is not going to be sufficient,” Vollrath said. “We need multiple people to set up rooms and man the reception desk.”
According to Vollrath, SAC is going to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and will need around six staff members throughout the day. She added weekend hours will be shorter and they will need fewer staff members.
SC also voted to create a committee to rewrite the job descriptions of the two campus organizing staff positions.
ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand said the committee would potentially change one of the organizer positions into a Student Council adviser position, though the other organizer job description would probably not change much. She said the adviser position would be in charge of answering questions SC members have and helping them find resources.
“This position could really aid us in the transition to the new ASM structure,” Wiegand said.
The committee should be done rewriting the job descriptions by the end of fall semester so they can hire someone for the new adviser position by next semester, Wiegand said.
SC also voted to institute a hiring freeze on the second campus organizer position in order to have more time to assess the job description. The freeze is also due to new staffing needs that may occur when ASM restructures the organization next semester.
“We wanted to look at this second position of campus organizer and really evaluate what we need them to do,” Vollrath said.
Legislative Affairs Chair Kevin Ott said Coordinating Council decided one person in the organizer position would be sufficient for now.
“We don’t want to see someone get hired and then have the whole structure of ASM shift, and then deal with, ‘Do we need these people?’ ‘What happens to them?'” Ott said.
SC voted to amend a resolution previously passed creating a new campus safety initiative coordinator position. The amendment adds a line to the resolution explaining where funding for the position comes from. Half of the funding will come from the Offices of the Dean of Students, while the other $775 will come from unused stipends within ASM.
SC also approved the appointment of student Joey French to serve on the Union Financial Institution Advisory Board, created to determine the feasibility of including a financial institution in Memorial Union or the new Union South.
Junior Douglas Schuette was also appointed to serve on the ODOS Advisory Board as a house fellow representative.
