The reallocation of student organization office space in the Student Activity Center has created conflict between the SAC Governing Board and other members of the Associated Students of Madison.
SACGB met Feb. 21 to reallocate the offices among student organizations through a process that some committee members felt was unfair, according to Tom Templeton, ASM vice chair.
He expressed concerns of ranking bias and subjectivity in the evaluative criteria that determined which spaces were allocated to organizations.
Katy Ziebell, SACGB chair, said the board did not have any previous formal training in viewpoint neutrality—the legal principle requiring ASM's funding of groups to be independent of the groups' views—and is still developing its protocols.
""I think people tend to forget that ... we're still a new board and we're still figuring out our process,"" she said.
The board evaluated student organizations' necessity for office space based on how the space would be used, how many people would be in it at a given time and how often it would be used.
""The reallocation process was inherently flawed,"" Templeton said.
ASM's Student Judiciary deemed the reallocation necessary because one committee member broke viewpoint neutrality when originally assigning the office spaces, Templeton said.
He said a committee member was dissatisfied with how a certain student organization used its office space and felt it should not have the largest suite. Similar viewpoint neutrality issues were responsible for prompting reorganization, Templeton said.
Ziebell said there were in fact multiple viewpoint neutrality violations because of the committee's lack of training.
""We didn't really know what to look at when allocating a group their space, so therefore he may have perceived it that way. But he also wasn't there at that point in time,"" she said. ""Anything he is speaking to are things he has heard and people he has spoken to.""
According to Ziebell, SACGB members have been frustrated with the hasty criticism the board has received.
She said the controversy was sparked by a few ASM members who were sitting in on the board meeting and critiquing it on their Twitter pages.
""While it's OK for them to voice their opinions, [the tweets] were very disrespectful and undermined what the governing board is trying to accomplish,"" she said.
