The Student Services Finance Committee approved the 2003-'04 budgets for Safe Arrival for Everyone Nighttime Services, VETS for VETS and the Student Leadership Program, while denying a budget appeal from Sex Out Loud Wednesday.
Advocates for SAFE Nighttime Services rallied their support for the organization in open forum, stressing the importance of the organization, particularly the SAFEwalk program, to the UW-Madison campus community.
\SAFEwalk has an important presence on this campus. The SAFEwalk staff not only offers an invaluable service to students, but they also further the overall safety the community,"" Greta Ekern, a UW-Madison junior said on behalf on SAFE Night Time Services.
Despite support generated by students, the organization faced cuts to SAFEride and SAFEwalk services, finalizing their budget at $242,863.
""We simply can't say this deals with safety so we have to approve everything they ask for,"" said Tom Clark, a SSFC representative.
The Student Leadership Program fared similarly facing cuts in programming, travel and paid staff hours.
""The programming they have is widely successful now. I don't see why such an increase in funding is needed if they are operating effectively now,"" SSFC Representative Ryan Nichols said.
The Student Leadership Program budget was finalized at $31,311.
The VETS for VETS budget passed unanimously after a reduction in office costs, which SSFC members said is reflective of what has actually been spent in previous years. This reduction set their final budget at $27,700.
SSFC also heard a budget appeal from Sex Out Loud, asking the committee to reconsider cuts made to the organization's program supplies and paid staff training.
""Financial resources play a large role in the success of our organization. Without the ability to purchase the programming supplies and provide paid facilitator training, we can't possibly serve the student population as we would like and operate at our fullest capacity,"" said Megan Benson, a Sex Out Loud representative and UW-Madison senior.
After hearing Sex Out Loud's appeal, the committee moved to reconsider the budget, but the motion was struck down in a 6-4 vote.
""They have shown the ability to reallocate funds to meet their legitimate program needs,"" Nichols said. ""They are receiving the same amount of money as they received last year. This amount of funding will be perfectly adequate for their organization this year as well.""
SSFC also heard budget proposals for WSUM and the Multicultural Student Coalition. Budget decisions for these organizations will be made at the SSFC meeting Monday.
