In light of concerns about the UW-Madison administration's lack of action with regard to campus diversity issues, diversity-oriented groups came to the Associated Students of Madison's Student Services Finance Committee in October with budget requests of more than $1 million for the 2002-'03 school year.
The Multicultural Student Coalition and affiliated Diversity Education Specialists accounted for the highest requests of those groups. The money was largely requested to pay for a new office space and to support the salaries of 44 staff positions in the organization. After emotional debate, the MCSC budget was set at a record-high $555,467 in early November.
Chancellor John Wiley, after insisting he trusted the work the students had done, requested decreases to the budgets in March 2002. The move was unprecedented and Wiley called the cuts \symbolic"" in the midst of state budget woes.
After being ordered to cut about $144,000 from a nearly $3 million budget, SSFC and the ASM Student Council made small decreases proportional to the amount each organization's budget had been increased for next year's budget. The groups were individually responsible for deciding how the cuts would be implemented.
The result is an increase of about $30 per student in segregated fees, which will be included in next year's tuition bill.
