Associated Students of Madison decided Tuesday to use the $1.2 million segregated-fee surplus to, among other things, offset next year's fees and fund the bus program. ASM's reserve board struck down two other proposals that would have utilized a portion of the surplus.
The five-member board gave the no-vote to the ASM Academic Affairs proposed textbook rental pilot program and to the proposal to open a second ASM Student Print shop, both of which were initially pitched to the board Monday night.
According to ASM Chair and UW-Madison senior Emily McWilliams, the board used three criteria to make its decisions to axe the two proposals: whether a proposal would require a one-time-only expenditure, whether it was of critical and urgent need and whether it would benefit the general student body.
McWilliams said she felt the textbook rental proposal did not benefit enough students to warrant new funding from the seg-fee reserves.
\It has to be of critical and urgent need to the general student body and not just [a] small group of kids,"" she said.
McWilliams added that both proposals could, in her opinion, be funded by other sources outside of the reserves.
""I totally support it,"" McWilliams said of the textbook rental program, ""but I think that there's money out there that's better suited to that kind of long-term business venture.""
According to ASM Academic Affairs Committee Chair and UW-Madison sophomore Ashok Kumar, the textbook exchange pilot program would have entailed buying a textbook from two large lectures that would be used for several semesters and renting it out to students for a nominal fee.
Kumar said while he very much respects the decision and the authority of the board, he disagrees vehemently with its methods.
""I think the criteria, personally, were just ridiculous,"" he said.
Justin Baker, a UW-Madison sophomore who presented the proposal, also shared his thoughts after learning of the proposal's rejection.
""I'm disappointed,"" he said. ""I think it would have gone well but I understand why they rejected it.""
Kumar also noted the program will not simply die and said the Academic Affairs Committee will explore other avenues to fund it.
In addition to deciding on these two proposals, the board also allocated $239,000 in reserve funds to the General Student Services Fund, $62,500 to the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program, $56,000 to the ASM Bus Pass program and $140,500 to ASM itself.
McWilliams said the rest of the surplus will go to offset next year's seg fees.
