Student Services Finance Committee denied Wisconsin Student Lobby funding eligibility in a meeting Monday, saying the group had showed a lack of fiscal responsibility in recent years.
An organization must undergo eligibility hearings every two years and if the group received funding through SSFC in previous years, it must also demonstrate a history of fiscal responsibility.
In the past two years, WSL, a student organization focused on advocating for student issues and resources, returned more than half of the funding SSFC granted them.
The returned funds go directly into Associated Students of Madison reserve funds and cannot be reused by another student organization.
SSFC Vice Chair Joseph Vanden Avond, who voted against granting the group eligibility, said the group’s repeated request for too much money showed fiscal irresponsibility.
“They had a chance to adjust this and they still asked for twice as much as they needed,” Vanden Avond said. “That money was meant for us to have in a particular cycle and now it is gone forever.”
SSFC members in favor of approving WSL cited the educational aspect of the process, saying WSL had tried, and would try in the future, to alter its budget to make it more realistic.
SSFC Chair Ellie Bruecker said she would work closely with WSL to explore alternative funding options.
Also in the meeting, the committee approved funding eligibility for a new student organization, Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics, saying the group met the necessary criteria with its faith advising and support groups serving as unique direct services to the student body.
