The student government released details on their plan to make sure vital campus services are always funded and voiced concerns about how the new money would impact current student groups.

The Associated Students of Madison’s Student Service Finance Committee Chair Matt Manes explained how his proposal for the new Campus Service Fund would provide vital services for the student body.

However, several student groups expressed concerns that the new fund would reduce or eliminate the funding from the General Student Services Finance Fund, which SSFC currently distributes to certain registered student organizations.

Campus Women’s Center Program Coordinator Rae Lymer said she was concerned the services provided by the CSF would dissolve a lot of the direct services student groups need to have to be eligible for GSSF money.

Student groups need to show more than 50 percent of their time is spent on direct services for students before they can get GSSF funding.

Manes said, however, if a service is provided by the CSF they will not provide funding for a student group to do the same service because they do not want to ‘double dip’ and have students paying twice.

“The Campus Service Fund is not about the needs of individual groups, it is about services that are so critical we cannot afford to go without them,” Manes said.

Manes added the needs of the GSSF will be addressed later in the year as a part of the overall strategy plan for student funding.

Another concern brought up at the meeting was the fact this large change was only being decided by the small group of students on ASM.

SSFC representative Aliyya Terry said they should let the students vote on what services they want to be included in the fund because you cannot make a change of this magnitude without consulting the whole student body.

Jason Smathers, the committee’s secretary, said it was just not possible to get the entire student body’s input.

“I hate to say it, but 90 percent of the student body doesn’t know about this and they won’t know about it,” said Smathers, who once served as editor in chief of The Badger Herald. “We we will try to reach out to as many people as humanly possible, but we cannot wait for everyone to jump on board because we will never take off.”

Manes said ideas for vital services to the campus can come in the form of a proposal from any ASM officer, Student Council member or ASM committee. He added any proposal submitted by a group of 30 or more students is automatically put on the Student Council’s agenda.

The proposal is then voted on by the Student Council, and if passed it moves to the SSFC for further approval, Manes said.

If a proposal is approved by Student Council and SSFC it will go to a procurement board, made up of at least one ASM officer, one Student Council member and one SSFC member, to figure how to actually implement the service.

Manes said the procurement will then decide who would be the best group to provide the service between student organizations, ASM itself, an outside group or the university itself.

Manes added they could also decide it was not possible to provide the service and cut it.