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H 23°, L 9°The University of Wisconsin Student Services Finance Committee approved a $1,163,000 budget Monday for the Associated Students of Madison�s 2008-09 budget, an increase of $432,000 from last year.
The most significant changes in the budget are increases in funding for student organization event grants from $143,000 to $300,000, student organization operation grants from $73,000 to $125,000 and travel grant funding from $43,500 to $85,000.
According to SSFC chair Alex Gallagher, the increased budget could also provide additional funding for groups that were denied money from the General Student Services Fund, like the Roman Catholic Foundation of the University of Wisconsin.
Despite approving an increased total ASM budget after cutting funding from three student groups, SSFC approved a budget decrease of about $670,000 in the 2008-09 GSSF budget.
Though RCF-UW was denied funding from GSSF, SSFC vice chair Katrina Flores said the group could apply for money from ASM�s organization event grant pot and use the money for events �significant to student life.�
�[Asian Pacific American Council], for example, � [was] not eligible for funds this year,� Flores said. �That�s over $200,000 that we�re not paying for. However, their events are important to the student body.�
According to Gallagher, most student organizations receive an average of 48 percent of the money requested for events, and the increased funding could avoid cuts in event planning.
�We want to provide more funding for more organizations and to allow them to operate on a higher level, rather than cutting them back so their events are missing integral parts,� Gallagher said.
The ASM budget also adds nearly $50,000 to provide additional accommodations for students with disabilities, which was nonexistent in previous years.
But SSFC representative Carl Fergus said certain parts of the budget still cause him concern, like the amount allocated for ASM to sponsor students going to national conferences.
According to Fergus, ASM provided the committee with a detailed list of travel expenditures, but the budget outlined exceeded the funding requested.
Flores said the additional money could be used for extra travel expenses, like the disparity in lodging prices in the different states where most conferences take place.
Gallagher said he is satisfied with the current budget and expects lower student segregated fees for the upcoming academic year.
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Oh, joy. ASM gets another big budget increase while student fees are still through the roof.
As someone who has run a college student government in the past, it’s wise for ASM to take a budget cut before the campus throws the whole lot out. I’m tired of paying ridiculous segregated fees that eat up most of a monthly paycheck.
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Wow. You ASM guys are gonna be great little money wasting bureaucrats when you grow up.
I earn 50k a year, and I’m able to pay taxes, a mortgage, pay my bills, have car, cable tv, feed myself 3 meals a day, take a vacation, go out to eat, save for retirement, etc for an entire year.
But the Asian Pacific American Council, whatever the hell that is, wants $200k for “events that are important to the student body”. For what?! That’s a lot of pizza for the 20 people that show up.
These organized ethnic groups have got to be stopped. It’s inherently racist. And for all the talk about diversity, why do you form groups to segregate yourselves from the rest of the student body? Why can’t student groups be formed around common interests like sports and hobbies instead of skin color?
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is this a joke?!?!?!
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Well, the real increases were for the many small groups that only use small pots of money. But really, most of the student body doesn’t care, so don’t expect a revolt. Many students don’t know who Wiley is. The only ones complaining are the conservatives that want to run St. Paul’s entirely on seg fees yet can’t stand giving money to black or brown kids. I mean, the real racists are the minorities, right?
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This campus student body is stupid. Sad. The increases in the ASM budget are going to student organizations which are comprised of over 750 different groups representing everyone, every interest and in every way. So 750 groups which have at least 3 members each (some have over 1000 members)are going to be directly affected by the increases to travel, event and operation grants. Good for SSFC. Also, I believe there was an overall $670,000.00 decrease by SSFC to seg fees so every student can enjoy more for less. Hmmmm….can we stop throwing the race card folks (white folks)????!!!!