The Student Services Finance Committee passed the budgets of the Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary and the Muslim Student Association, and heard a budget proposal for WSUM student radio Thursday evening.
SSFC passed MSA’s budget following multiple changes. Rep. Cooper Beckwith moved to reduce the Halaqa food and beverage allocation from $600 to $0 because it did not fit with SSFC’s food policies. The motion passed 4-0-8.
Beckwith also motioned to reduce both the secretary and marketing chair positions’ salaries from $4,158 to $3,465.
“Given that the president, vice president and financial director are budgeted at 12 hours a week, [these positions] seem to me like they are less time-consuming positions, and we assume that the president and vice president are probably going to be doing most of the work in the organization,” Beckwith said. “Since these two positions are new this year, I would like to see them [with lower] hours per week.”
Vice Chair Zaakir Abdul-Wahid disagreed with the motion and said 12 hours is already low. Because the president of the organization has low hours already, it is unreasonable to ask the rest of the organization to reduce their hours. The motion passed 4-3-5.
Beckwith also moved to reduce all summer positions’ hours from 16 weeks to 13, a total reduction of $474. This motion passed 5-0-7.
MSA’s revised budget of $40,601.50 passed 6-0-6.
“Overall, I definitely agree with this budget,” Abdul-Wahid said. “I didn’t agree with all of the specific reductions that were made, but I don’t think it will put [MSA] in a position where they can’t still effectively implement a lot of their programming.”
SSFC also considered the budget of the Student Judiciary. Chair Jeremy Swanson gave Abdul-Wahid the title of chair for the duration of the discussion on the Student Judiciary, and proceeded to act as a representative on their behalf.
Student Judiciary’s budget passed 7-0-4 with a budget of $36,555 after Swanson proposed reductions to the salaries of the chief justice, associate justices and general council. The reductions, totaling $785, each passed 6-0-4.
“This is a pretty straightforward budget,” Swanson said. “I think this is a pretty good estimate of what’s happening in the organization.”
SSFC also hosted a guest speaker from the Wisconsin Union, who explained their budget process prior to their hearing, which SSFC will hear in February 2019.
WSUM student radio, whose budget is 96.4 percent non-allocable, presented their proposed budget of $391,387.40 to SSFC after multiple WSUM employees, including station manager Carlton Cook, spoke about the benefits of the student radio during open forum. Then, general manager Dave Black gave the committee a tour of the station.
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“To me [the station] is the greatest place on campus,” Cook said. “I want to go into radio, so this is a great experience. But even if I didn’t, this is an incredible opportunity [for] anyone, no matter what they want to do, so far as working with a team, being creative and leadership skills go.”
SSFC also addressed a vacancy on the recreational sports board after Rep. Henry Galles resigned. Rep. Jon Kim was nominated and appointed to the position unanimously. Galles also resigned from SSFC in an email sent to Swanson and Abdul-Wahid.
Swanson brought up a mathematical error in Sex Out Loud’s budget, which was passed Monday. There had been an accidental addition of $84. SSFC approved the new budget of $90,879 after no objections were raised.
SSFC will vote on WSUM’s budget Monday.
