Members of the University of Wisconsin student government met to address legislation regarding checks to committee power as well as hold debate regarding a student group’s denied funding in open forum Monday night.

Debate surrounding the Multicultural Student Coalition’s denial of General Student Services Fund eligibility last Thursday dominated the open forum section of the Student Services Finance Committee.

MCSC members Rebecca Pons and Nneka Akubeze urged the committee to reconsider its ruling on the basis that the numbers used in calculating the organization’s percentage of direct services were inaccurate.

They asserted that SSFC Rep. Cale Plamann made incorrect calculations, disregarding those given by MCSC.

For an organization to receive funding from SSFC, it must demonstrate that more than 50 percent of the organization’s time is spent providing direct services.

Plamann asserted SSFC’s eligibility criteria has been affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Plamann added that he did take into account MCSC’s numbers but did not agree with certain labels for direct and educational services.

Debate over the MCSC funding decision spanned more than two hours, with Rep. David Vines urging the committee to motion to reconsider the decision.

“Rep. Plamann used his own interpretation of what the group does in spite of what they said they do – that’s his prerogative I guess,” Vines said. “Somebody who voted ‘no’ on this should motion to reconsider so that we have time to meet with the group and figure out what the actual numbers are.”

Ultimately, no member motioned to reconsider the decision during the meeting.

The Process Standardization Committee legislation, which aims to set up a committee to check power of branches of student government, was also discussed during the meeting.

Plamann said the committee would function as a part of the Rules Committee and that it should not be too internal within SSFC. He also said viewpoint neutrality training will be mandated for Rules Committee members, and SSFC members agreed.

Rep. Justin Bloesch said having two Registered Student Organization seats on the committee would be beneficial, while Rep. Justin Gerstner disagreed and said the members may not have the expertise and understanding necessary for deeper involvement in the committee.

SSFC Chair Sarah Neibart also addressed the ultimatum she posed last week when she said she would step down if this legislation did not pass to SSFC and refuse to hold hearings.

She said last week she felt the legislation disrespected her authority and that of the SSFC.

“Ever since I’ve been elected as chair, I’ve felt like there’s been a lot of backlash from certain bodies of ASM,” Neibart said. “When I gave that ultimatum last week it was kind of [the] last step of me being frustrated with inner battles and dramas of ASM.”

Badger Catholic Chair Nico Fassino also spoke during Monday’s meeting and asked for an overall decrease in funding.

Fassino also apologized for an unintentional violation incident concerning bookkeeping later deemed to be minor by SSFC.

A decision regarding the group’s funding will be made during Thursday’s meeting.