The Student Services Finance Committee held an internal review Monday, where representatives had an informal conversation to reflect on the year and discuss potential changes.
SSFC discussed the conflicting definitions the Associated Students of Madison and F.H. King, students for sustainable agriculture, have on internships.
F.H. King’s internships run throughout the summer and are designed to let students who are interested in agriculture have a first-hand experience. Their internships are not specifically a for-credit internship.
Under SSFC legislation, segregated fees cannot be spent on credit-producing activities. When credit is given, students must pursue it from their academic advisors on their own, Chair Devon Maier said.
While many ASM interns get credit for their internships, ASM has students work out the credit on their own, internally. Sudents are allowed to gain credit through their faculty sponsors, Vice Chair Thuy Pham said.
“When ASM presents the internship program, they don’t provide the credit,” Pham said. “They let the students go out and find a department who will sponsor their credit.”
The confusion on internship definitions was created because F.H. King was explicit in linking its internships to credit, where other General Student Services Fund groups implied it, Pham said.
GSSF groups could have a network of professors available who provide sponsorship to interns, Maier said.
SSFC also discussed creating a standard document that allows GSSF groups to return segregated fees that were not used; $4,700 in segregated fees were returned to SSFC last year, Maier said.
“It’d be beneficial to create a month-long window where groups could return money they didn’t think they were going to use,” Maier said. “With a standard document we’d have some sort of accountability method in place where members can express why they’re returning money.”
SSFC also brainstormed ways to strengthen the connection between SSFC and GSSF groups.
Pham proposed meeting with GSSF groups before they present their budget each year. Individual representatives are expected to go out and meet with GSSF members, Pham said.
Maier proposed having an hour before the first SSFC meeting in the fall where GSSF groups could become more informed on what SSFC does.
Rep. Colin Barushok proposed having a single SSFC meeting to reach out to all GSSF members and answer any questions they have.
“It’s just as important for us to understand what they do,” Baruskok said. “I would call for a much better effort on the part of SSFC to reach out to GSSF.”
