The Wisconsin Student Public Interest Group may have another chance at receiving funding after the student government reconsidered its eligibility decision.
The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee reheard WISPIRG’s request for General Student Services Fund financing during a meeting Monday.
SSFC denied WISPIRG funding for the 2011-12 fiscal year early last semester because members did not feel University of Wisconsin students were the primary beneficiaries of WISPIRG’s projects and campaigns.
SSFC members were also concerned with how vaguely the organization had defined its direct service.
WISPIRG appealed SSFC’s decision to the Student Judiciary shortly thereafter. The Student Judiciary ordered WISPIRG’s eligibility decision to be revisited by SSFC.
Since the last hearing, WISPIRG refined its definition of the direct service it provides to students.
WISPIRG Chair Rashi Mangalick said the direct services the organization provides are the experiential learning students are able to gain through training sessions, lobbying and working on different social and political issues.
Mangalick said training sessions are available to all students and are designed to equip students with the tools to work on various projects and campaigns.
“We work on campaigns that affect the city, the state and the nation,” Mangalick said. “But the people who benefit from it are the students.”
A few SSFC members were still concerned about the lack of a defined structure WISPIRG has in implementing its training programs.
SSFC Secretary Jason Smathers said groups are required to have a program, which SSFC defines as a coordinated and planned activity offered by the groups. He added he didn’t understand how experiential learning fit the SSFC’s definition of a program.
“The problem that I am having is that it is not clear to what extent [there] is a planned structure to carry this out,” said Smathers, who is a former editor-in-chief of The Badger Herald. “How does experiential learning fit into a framework that is planned and coordinated? This isn’t a program if it is something that manifests itself naturally.”
WISPIRG Secretary Allie Gardner said there are semester plans created by interns and board executives within WISPIRG.
SSFC will make a decision on WISPIRG’s GSSF eligibility on Thursday.
The committee also reviewed and approved the Student Activity Center Governing Board’s budget at $410,752 with little opposition.
The student council will review SACGB’s budget and ASM’s budget Wednesday.
