The University of Wisconsin Student Services Finance Committee met to discuss special cases regarding budget standards of student organizations and wages Thursday.
SSFC representatives held an open forum that featured two cases in which students asked to be granted an exception to existing policies.
Sex Out Loud requested approval to raise their budget cap to cover their purchases for apparel. While the spending budget for apparel is currently capped at $300 for all student organizations, Sex Out Loud requires over $400 to cover their needs. Sex Out Loud prints the same number of shirts through Student Print each year and the cost has steadily increased, the Sex Out Loud spokesperson Maya Biskowitz said. Biskowitz said the cost to print one T-shirt has risen from $15 to $27.
“Student organizations can go through any printing service that is affiliated with UW-Madison,” ASM Funding Advisor Abbie Wagaman said. “However … groups are heavily incentivized to go with Student Print. Primarily because Student Print used to be funded through segregated fees, [but] they are no longer part of ASM.”
In regards to changing this policy, which is under the General Student Services Fund, the voting would have to go through the Eligibility Criteria Review Committee, which typically happens in the spring, Wagaman said.
The SSFC representatives voted to approve the exception to increase funds not to exceed $450.
The second case was proposed by Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment chair Lindsay Mahoney regarding a wage exemption to extend the paid work hours beyond the 20 hours per week limit for student employees.
In this special case, a student organization chair was working 30-35 unpaid hours weekly to compensate for being short-staffed.
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In a letter to SSFC, they requested an exception to the 20-hour-per-week limit for student jobs to get paid for the extra hours.
The SSFC came to an unanimous decision in favor of granting the wage exemption to extend the paid working hours to 29 hours per week to a maximum of five pay periods.
SSFC will meet again Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. in the Student Activity Center on East Campus Mall.
