With Associated Students of Madison fall elections beginning Oct. 19, the five candidates for the two available positions on one of the student government’s most influential and often controversial committees.
Student Services Finance Committee controls the allocation of segregated fee funding to student groups, and makes recommendations to the chancellor for proposed budgets of several university services, such as the Wisconsin Union.
Freshman candidate Mart?n Uraga said he will be using Facebook to the fullest extent in an effort to reach students on campus. He hopes to also talk to people personally in his classes, the dorms and in the street while utilizing posters and fliers as well.
Freshman candidate Jacob Sindberg, who is running for both Student Council and SSFC, will be using the same approach of putting posters and fliers up and simply talking to people around the dorms.
Other candidates are touting past financial experience. Sophomore candidates Coffey Zhang and Cindy Wang are both majoring in finance and said they have previous experience dealing with financial reports and budgets, according to the Associated Students of Madison website.
Freshman candidate Aliyya Terry said on the site she will rely on skills gained through economic courses and an investment club.
While the control of over two million dollars of student funding means candidates would hold a great deal of responsibility, the hours and detail required to accurately judge each budget and eligibility application makes it a significant commitment. SSFC Chair Brandon Williams said as soon as the representatives are elected, they will have a lengthy training on the main issue at the time, a pressing concern being viewpoint neutrality.
“The committee has varying opinions so it’s good for the candidates to have varying opinions coming into it but they are subject to viewpoint neutrality,” Williams said.
Williams said he talked with some of the candidates earlier in the year, though he is unsure which of them has been to SSFC meetings to see how they are run.
