Members of University of Wisconsin’s student government granted funding eligibility to a student-run tutoring organization and heard a presentation from a student organization geared toward sexual health awareness at a meeting Thursday.
The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee approved the eligibility application from Greater University Tutoring Services to receive segregated fee funding for fiscal year 2014-15 by a vote of 11 to zero, with one member abstaining.
SSFC members agreed GUTS fulfilled the requirements to be eligible for money from the General Student Services Fund. Several members said they voted to approve the organization because the group members demonstrated the majority of their programming provided direct services to students, one of the requirements for GSSF funding.
SSFC Rep. Devon Maier said university students are the primary beneficiaries of GUTS programming.
“Yes, it’s clear the primary focus of the group is its direct services,” Maier said.
SSFC Vice Chair Ian Malmstadt added GUT’s application showed 90 percent of the time logged by the organization was going toward direct services.
Maier said the organization also fulfilled the eligibility criterion requiring GSSF groups to offer services available for use by all students.
“Although some of [GUTS] services target specific groups of students, it’s clear they welcome all students,” Maier said.
Maier said he also supported granting GUTS eligibility because the organization demonstrated they provide a service to students not offered elsewhere at the university. The peer to peer element of the organization and the accessibility for all students is unique, he said.
Sex Out Loud, a peer-based sexual health resource organization, also presented their application for eligibility at the meeting.
Nicholas Fetzner, a member of Sex Out Loud, outlined the direct services provided by the organization, including comprehensive sex education workshops, sexual health counseling and advising and resource referral and information outreach.
Fetnzer said 103 out of 158 total hours logged by Sex Out Loud employees and volunteers are devoted to direct services. He added 98.7 percent of Sex Out Loud’s direct services are focused on university students.
Several SSFC members requested an explanation of the differences between the services provided by University Health Services to those offered by Sex Out Loud.
Sam Johnson, a member of Sex Out Loud for the past four years, said UHS no longer provides a sexual health counselor for students on campus, nor does it offer peer to peer counseling for students.
Johnson added the programming offered by Sex Out Loud is less focused on preventing sexual activity and more focused on educating students about safe sex.
“What we do is prevention plus promotion,” Johnson said. “Lots of UHS programming is focused on birth control and STI prevention.”
SSFC Chair David Vines expressed concern regarding the accessibility of Sex Out Loud’s services to students who choose not to be sexually active.
Fetzner said non-sexually active students can still gain from the educational programming offered by the organization.
“We feel even if you choose not to be at the moment, you might need [our services] later in life,” Fetzner said.
SSFC will vote whether to grant eligibility to Sex Out Loud at a meeting on Sept. 16.
