The Student Services Finance Committee held a meeting Monday, Sept. 21, to determine the eligibility of funds for Badger Supporting Peers In Laidback Listening and hear an eligibility presentation for University of Wisconsin’s Black Student Union.

Badger SPILL

During a discussion about a previous hearing for Badger SPILL, SSFC Rep. Todd Garon discussed the eligibility of the organization. He said SPILL sufficiently explained their two programs and spent their funding from the previous year.

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Rep. Natasha Thimmesch said the only issue she had with the organization is they did not provide the demographics of their program. Without having a diverse group of volunteers, she feared this could be a barrier for some students searching for someone they could relate to within the organization.

Despite this concern, the entire committee voted in favor of funding eligibility of SPILL.

Black Student Union hearing

UW’s Black Student Union also made their case for funding at Monday’s meeting.

Black Student Union President, Marquise Mays, said their organization is focused on providing an environment for the academic extracurricular pursuits of black students at UW. He said black student activism is needed to serve as resources for the university on educational, political and social issues.

He said their core programs include “Talk to Me Tuesday,” an interactive program open to all university students, regardless of race, to discuss topics such as diversity, politics and education. Mays said the event allows students to talk about issues existing on campus.

The Black Student Union also hosts two other sets of events: Black History Month and Women’s History Month. Both events are intended to create educational and social opportunities for students, which Mays said promotes social and institutional changes. He said if their eligibility was approved they would use the funds to do more planning and campaigning for these events.

The committee asked questions about how the union was different than other diversity organizations on campus. Mays said they are entirely student-run, allowing them to fully consider group input and produce results.

Mays also said the union plans to get other organizations involved in order to create strong relationships that attract more people to their organization.

“My goal is to expand, for the university’s sake,” Mays said. “We are a small organization and I want to make us more known.”

The committee also discussed whether they should raise the budget cap for the General Student Services Fund. SSFC Vice Chair Brett DuCharme voiced his opinion against raising the budget, along with several other members.

Their final decision will be made at SSFC’s next meeting Thursday, Sept. 24.