Sex Out Loud is appealing an Associated Students of Madison committee’s budget decision from last week, in which the committee lowered the group’s proposed budget by $2,500.
During the discussion portion of the meeting, Student Services Finance Committee Chair Devon Maier reported that Sex Out Loud is appealing SSFC’s Oct. 16 decision to lower a line in the group’s budget.
“Realistically it’s not worth a very strong defense on our part, it’s a very minor issue, I think that the repercussions are worse than it actually is,” Maier said.
SSFC passes funding for Sex Out Loud, hears presentation from Badger Catholic
The appeal process is dealt with through the Student Judiciary branch of ASM, Maier said, where both sides present their arguments. SSFC has five days or 48 hours, depending on the date of the hearing, to respond to the appeal.
Maier said Sex Out Loud is appealing to rehear the specific line that was reduced. At the Oct. 16 meeting, the “supplies” line was debated. This budget item dealt mainly with the purchase and distribution of supplies on campus.
As previously reported, Sec. Brett Ducharme pointed out that there are less expensive suppliers of items like condoms on campus like University Health Services.
Even if SSFC loses the appeal and needs to rehear the supplies budget line, the committee’s budget decision will most likely remain the same, Maier said.
“I have confidence in the process that was followed initially,” he said.
At its meeting Monday, SSFC also passed the Working Class Student Union budget and heard SPILL’s budget proposal.
Working Class Student Union’s budget was approved with a vote of 11-0 by SSFC members and stands at $49,610.87, which was an increase from the originally proposed $49,187.12.
During open forum, WCSU spokesperson Hong Trinh asked the committee to amend the budget to change the president’s salary to $9.69 per hour, an increase from the previous $9.44 per hour. That motion passed the committee unanimously.
Trinh advocated for continued use of advertising funds on Madison buses.
“Based on our experiences, advertising for WCSU on Madison buses along with social media is the most effective method of reaching students,” Trinh said.
Rep. James Ng made an amendment to increase the computer software budget by $210 to $1,380 in order to purchase laptops, which also passed unanimously.
SSFC heard a proposal from Supporting Peers in Laid-back Listening, or SPILL, a peer-to-peer network based entirely online. According to the site, students can submit their stories anonymously and receive feedback from fellow students.
During the 2013-2014 school year SPILL ran into software problems and as a result did not use as much of their advertising and printing budget.
SPILL proposed a total budget of $40,731.50, a $2,307.75 decrease from their budget last year.
For advertising, they requested $10,000, the same as last year.
“The most successful means of advertising is handing out promotional items such as mugs, water bottles and stress balls, for which $6,500 of the advertising budget is used,” SPILL spokesperson Pamela Gu said.
SPILL requested $600 for software and hardware up from $350 last year. This is the only budgeting category in which SPILL asked for an increase.
For office supplies they asked for $250, a $500 decrease from last year. Finally, for printing, they asked for $500, a $250 decrease from last year.
“The number of hours that their VPs work this year will be decreased to 10 from the 15 that they worked the previous year,” Gu said.
The requested amount for all salaries is $2,9147.94, a $1,534.31 decrease from last year.
