The last student organization on the docket to receive eligibility for segregated fee funding through a student government committee was denied in an emotional meeting Thursday night.
The Multicultural Student Coalition was denied General Student Services Fund eligibility by the Student Services Finance Committee in a vote of 5-7-0.
Committee members were largely divided on the status of the organization’s eligibility and whether the organization met the criteria surrounding time spent on direct services.
SSFC Rep. Justin Bloesch said he had met with the group on several occasions to understand how they calculated the amount of time it spends on providing direct services.
Bloesch said he performed his own calculations as well, and his time estimate was consistent with the conservative estimate the group had presented to the committee.
Several committee members did not come to the same conclusion as Bloesch.
“There are a couple of major services that I have issues with classifying as direct services,” said Rep. Cale Plamann.
Specifically, Plamann said several of the direct services the organization had highlighted involved administrative work rather than providing tailorable and requestable services to students.
After eliminating the services that did not meet the funding eligibility criterion, Plamann said the organization did not spend enough time on providing the services that met the requirements in order to qualify for eligibility.
Both Rep. Dan Posca and Vice Chair Chase Wilson said they agreed MCSC did not meet the criteria of allocating more than half of its time to providing direct services.
A few committee members, however, supported Bloesch’s position and said the organization met the requirements.
Rep. Tia Nowack said she had sat in on several MCSC meetings and did not believe some of the services committee representatives considered administrative work should be classified as such.
Multiple committee members also raised concern about the overlap between the direct services provided by MCSC and other on-campus sources as well.
Leaders of MCSC said they felt the line of questioning some committee members used at their eligibility hearing earlier this week was inappropriate and confusing.
“It felt like you all were trying to trick us,” MCSC representative Rebecca Pons.
Pons added the committee should try facilitate conversation with GSSF groups rather than make the organizations feel uncomfortable and confused.
Nowack said the committee had approved funding eligibility for other organizations that had provided similar direct services to other entities on campus in the past as long as there was some substantial difference in the services provided.
“I don’t think we’re being consistent right now, and I have a problem with that,” Nowack said.
Although the organization received funding eligibility two years ago, SSFC Chair Sarah Neibart said different committees can come to different conclusions regarding GSSF funding eligibility.
“The committee can’t consider past decisions,” Neibart said. “They just took what they were given [this year].”
Neibart said MCSC has five days to appeal SSFC’s decision with the Student Judiciary.
MCSC member Althea Miller declined an interview.
The committee also addressed the Standardization of Process Committee, a prospective committee proposed to check SSFC’s power.
Wednesday, the Student Council decided to send the legislation for the committee to SSFC to be reviewed.
Nowack, a co-author of the legislation, told the committee that the legislation was not intended to attack anyone personally on the committee.
She added although she had been upset the legislation had initially been sent to SSFC, she felt comfortable with the decision after her fellow committee members had expressed a desire to be involved in the process and make contributions.
