Changes made to funding policy
Senate revises the way student organizations receive money
Nathaniel Shuda
Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Campus News
In its second meeting of the 50th session, Student Senate passed a bill Monday with a 19-1-4 vote to amend the policy for funding organized activities.
After unanimously passing a similar bill a year ago, Senate retracted its amended Finance Commission bylaws because UW System Legal Counsel had found the change to be "a violation of accepted procedure."
In an attempt to better comply with a standard of viewpoint neutrality, Senate decided it wouldn't fund any ideologically based organizations, an action that System Legal said was non-neutral and therefore went against a 1996 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in the case of Southworth v. UW System Board of Regents.
At the time, the decision didn't really affect UW-Eau Claire students because no such organizations ever applied for funding, said Finance Director Ray French, who introduced Monday's bill.
However, when The Flip Side, originally affiliated with the Progressive Student Association, applied for funding in fall 2004, questions arose about how Senate would deal with ideologically based organizations.
"It is viewpoint-neutral, finally," President Aaron Olson said of Monday's bill. "This one is rock-hard."
Many senators agreed, saying that after the retraction of last year's bill, revamping the bylaws seemed like a logical choice.
In addition to including a viewpoint neutrality statement, the new commission bylaws also compiled various sets of guidelines, some of which had been in use since 1986 but never officially placed on the books.
Other changes included creating three categories of organized activities - campus media, student organizations and supplemental services - as well as requiring organizations to have records filed with University Accounting for a minimum of two years.
The Finance Commission bylaws now allow student organizations to request up to $200 in student segregated fees.
French said that while he wishes there would have been more discussion about the bill, he thinks the changes better reflect what he has been trying to support when making decisions regarding the funding of student organizations.
"What this is about," he said, "is their accessibility to students and their budget management."
After unanimously passing a similar bill a year ago, Senate retracted its amended Finance Commission bylaws because UW System Legal Counsel had found the change to be "a violation of accepted procedure."
In an attempt to better comply with a standard of viewpoint neutrality, Senate decided it wouldn't fund any ideologically based organizations, an action that System Legal said was non-neutral and therefore went against a 1996 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in the case of Southworth v. UW System Board of Regents.
At the time, the decision didn't really affect UW-Eau Claire students because no such organizations ever applied for funding, said Finance Director Ray French, who introduced Monday's bill.
However, when The Flip Side, originally affiliated with the Progressive Student Association, applied for funding in fall 2004, questions arose about how Senate would deal with ideologically based organizations.
"It is viewpoint-neutral, finally," President Aaron Olson said of Monday's bill. "This one is rock-hard."
Many senators agreed, saying that after the retraction of last year's bill, revamping the bylaws seemed like a logical choice.
In addition to including a viewpoint neutrality statement, the new commission bylaws also compiled various sets of guidelines, some of which had been in use since 1986 but never officially placed on the books.
Other changes included creating three categories of organized activities - campus media, student organizations and supplemental services - as well as requiring organizations to have records filed with University Accounting for a minimum of two years.
The Finance Commission bylaws now allow student organizations to request up to $200 in student segregated fees.
French said that while he wishes there would have been more discussion about the bill, he thinks the changes better reflect what he has been trying to support when making decisions regarding the funding of student organizations.
"What this is about," he said, "is their accessibility to students and their budget management."