A student government leader stressed the urgency of endorsing plans for a legal services center for students over the course of the next few months at a meeting on Wednesday.
Student Services Finance Committee Chair Matt Manes urged representatives of the Associated Students of Madison Student Council to endorse a new program that would provide many types of legal services to students on campus.
Manes introduced the idea of creating the Student Legal Service Center, which would provide legal services to students, to the council.
The Student Legal Services Center is still in the works as of now, according to Manes, but many ideas and models have been brought to discussion.
“The legal services provided would be of great relevance to the students to represent them in a significant and meaningful way,” Manes said.
Vice Chair Adam Johnson said the services offered would range anywhere from legal advice to representing students in court, if necessary.
He added there would be restrictions on the program, but the door is certainly open.
A project of this magnitude normally receives anywhere from a semester to a year of planning, but the deadline to propose this model is in roughly two and a half months, according to Manes.
In order to put this program into motion, creating a Special Tasks Group for the Student Legal Services Center was discussed. It would consist of six members eager to see the model become a reality in a timely fashion.
Chair Brandon Williams was in favor of the Special Tasks Group and stressed urgency. He said forming the group is an opportunity to give people a job to get done and see through.
“I don’t like the idea that we sometimes put ourselves in a cul-de-sac and we have no way to get out,” Williams said. “We need to just move forward and get this in motion.”
Debate on the Student Legal Services Center will take place at the next meeting.
The student council also discussed the General Student Services Fund’s recipient definition clarification and how a change to the bylaws should be made in order to prevent organizations from being denied funding.
Last semester, a student organization on campus called Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group was denied funding by the SSFC because it was believed 75 percent of the group’s beneficiaries were not University of Wisconsin students, which is one of the criteria for funding organizations.
Representative Tyler Junger argued the language of the bylaw needed to be amended in order to clarify the requirements for student organization funding eligibility through the GSSF.
Currently in the bylaws, it defines beneficiaries only as individuals or groups providing direct service. However, the beneficiaries not only provide direct service, but also programming, which may include community members outside UW as well.
The student council voted to amend the language of the bylaw and will bring it to another vote at next week’s meeting.
