University of Wisconsin’s Student Services Finance Committee met Thursday to continue reviewing budget limitations policies from its March 14 meeting, which was adjourned early after decorum between Reps. Shia Fisher and Ryan Thiele could not be maintained, according to previous reporting by The Badger Herald.
SSFC’s previous meeting, held Monday, entered into closed session, as permitted under Associated Student of Madison bylaws 1.03(3)(2), for “considering dismissal, demotion or discipline of any ASM employee.” An SSFC member may be removed by two-thirds vote, according to ASM bylaws 4.04(1)(b). The vote coming out of Monday’s closed session constituted two-thirds of the SSFC, excluding abstentions, coming out at 7-1, according to the April 8 minutes. Fisher was the only representative to vote no and was not present at the April 11 meeting.
SSFC also voted to amend its budget limitations policy. The first amendment sought to clarify wording. Another amendment will require GSSF organizations exceeding 15% returns in prior fiscal years to provide a cause for returns and a solution to lower returns in the future. If they continue to yield excess returns, GSSF organizations will be prohibited from budget increases. The SSFC can approve budget increases despite excess returns with a three-fourths vote — except for organizations with returns of 25% or more, which will be ineligible for a budget increase.
Rep. Valerie Malfavon proposed a 15–20% returns range that would make organizations ineligible for budget increases, but Rep. Jake Wesner opposed this suggestion.
“We don’t know how that’s going to affect these organizations our workflow in our ability to do their jobs,” Wesner said. “I would just be hesitant to change the percentage number without data to back it up.”
Rep. Saif Ahmed was the only representative who voted against the 25% excess returns limit. The SSFC also discussed policy review regarding GSSF organization budgets and eligibility proposals.
Secretary Rishita Kilaru said the SSFC should provide GSSF organizations with more guidance on budget and eligibility proposals to prevent organizations from oversharing information not pertaining to eligibility requirements. Ahmed suggested decreasing the proposal time to 30 minutes, with 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of questions and answers. To close the discussion on budget proposal policies, Wakley reiterated the importance of supporting time limit changes with data and evidence to ensure it will not overburden student organizations.
“The immediate thought is, that it’s less time it should be easier, but think about it from maybe the perspective of a new group coming into this process,” Wakley said.
The SSFC will continue discussion of proposal time limits at its next meeting, Wakley said.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect the nature of abstentions in vote outcomes, per ASM bylaws, 1.04(1)(b), and to reflect that Chair Quinn Wakley referred to removals on the April 11 agenda, not from the closed session meeting.
