Nov. 4, the Student Services Finance Committee convened to discuss funding for student organizations and to vote to amend budgets.
The SSFC is the allocations branch of the Associated Students of Madison. According to ASM’s website, Wisconsin state law mandates that students have a right to oversee how segregated fees are allocated. The SSFC is in charge of making these decisions.
Furthermore, the Bursar’s Office said, “Segregated fees are charges, in addition to tuition, assessed to all students for student services, activities, programs, and facilities that support the mission of University of Wisconsin System institutions, including UW-Madison.”
SSFC voted on funding eligibility for F.H. King: Students for Sustainable Agriculture.
According to F.H. King’s website, the organization is a “student-run agricultural collective.”
The SSFC agreed that F.H. King met the criteria to receive funding for fiscal year 2023 but went on to vote on specific parts of the budget proposal.
SSFC denies F.H. King budget proposal, denies WBSU elegibility
First, the SSFC voted to deduct $546 intended to go to garden assistants. Secretary Erin Tritz said that in previous years, F.H. King had returned a lot of unused grant money for this position.
“A lot of the positions were really inconsistent with what they were returning,” Tritz said.
The SSFC settled on allocating $2,457 for this line of the budget. The committee also voted on whether or not to deduct funding from F.H. King’s administrative director position. The vote went to a tie, with two members abstaining. Representative Reggie Wu broke the tie by changing his vote from “abstain” to “nay,” and the SSFC voted not to deduct funding from this budget line.
F.H. King continues sustainable produce handouts despite pandemic
After a few more amendment votes, the SSFC decided to approve granting F.H. King a total of $77,127 for fiscal year 2023.
The SSFC decided to move future Thursday meeting times from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the Spring 2022 semester. The only member to vote against this measure was Representative David Vargas.
