The University of Wisconsin Student Services Financial Committee met Thursday to continue the last meeting’s discussion regarding a specific clause in the General Student Services Fund’s budget limitation policy.
Chair Quinn Wakley swore in three appointed representatives following approval in an emergency meeting of Student Council Wednesday. Freshman Valeria Malfavon, sophomore Ben Cao and graduate student Jake Wesner filled the three vacant seats. Wakley also announced Rep. Reed Lokken’s resignation from the committee.
Building on last meeting’s discussion, Secretary Rishita Kilaru proposed a language adjustment to two clauses in the budget limitation policy. The alterations would make the clauses more concise and less conducive to loop holes, Kilaru said.
Much of the succeeding conversation focused on the budget returns policy, which states that any GSSF organizations with budget returns above 15% from the previous fiscal year should not receive a budget increase in the following fiscal year, unless overridden by a three-fourths vote of the SSFC.
“It’s almost impossible to get full, 100% utilization, even for professional organizations,” Wakley said. “They’re students first, so it can be a challenge to reach that goal.”
Reps. Ryan Thiele and Shia Fisher disagreed on how to best support GSSF organizations. Thiele argued that a 15–20% range would be more equitable and allow organizations to be more flexible, as sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances that lead to parts of their budgets not getting used for that specific fiscal year.
Fisher, who advocated for possibly lowering the threshold to 5%, said that by doing so they would encourage GSSF organizations to communicate more clearly and normalize the experience of working with SSFC.
Rep. Alex Beer and Kilaru soon acknowledged the growing tension and Wakley called for decorum. The committee went into a three minute recess, which was extended for another 10 minutes.
When decorum between Fisher and Thiele could not be maintained, the other representatives concluded that this meeting would no longer be productive and moved to adjourn.
After the meeting was adjourned, Fisher told The Badger Herald that representatives elected by their friends were “steamrolling” policy decisions, referring to Wesner, who was just appointed, and Thiele.
In the most recent Associated Students of Madison election, Wesner received two write-in votes.
Discussion about possible policy changes will be moved to next week.
