A university committee ruled Friday the Multicultural Student Coalition will be on probation beginning April 1, 2013, after violating a university contracting policy last year.
The dispute began in April 2012 when then-Student Services Finance Committee Chair Sarah Neibart filed a complaint with the Committee on Student Organizations, which sets and reviews policies overseeing the functions of registered student organizations, claiming MCSC had violated university policy regarding four training contracts.
According to Associated Students of Madison Press Office Director David Gardner, university funding procedures require any training be submitted as a contract and approved by ASM in order for a group to receive funds to cover the training expenses.
Gardner said trainings over $5,000 fall under a “simplified bid process” in which a group must show evidence it looked at several “vendor” options and chose the one that seemed best able to conduct the training at the least expensive price.
According to Gardner, Neibart argued on behalf of ASM that the group did not adhere to these policies, but rather circumvented the bid process by splitting up four training contracts so each individual contract was less than $5,000.
CSO members ruled that because all four training contracts were submitted on the same day for the same vendor, the committee would consider it as one contract totalling more than $5,000, which puts MCSC in violation of the simplified bid process policy.
Should MCSC be found guilty of similar contract violations during the probation period, a one year suspension will likely ensue, dependent upon a second CSO hearing.
According to Gardner, if put on suspension the group would lose its status as a student organization, as well as its space in the Student Activity Center and ability to hold meetings and events.
Gardner added it is often difficult for a group to come back after completely shutting down for a year.
In addition to probation, the group will have to undergo internal reforms and present them to the CSO as proof that a similar contract violation will not happen again.
The ruling came after months of the ASM student government butting heads with MCSC over student segregated fee funding eligibility, which began following SSFC’sdecision Oct. 20, 2011, to deny the group General Student Services Fund funding eligibility.
Debate further ensued after a second SSFCdecision on April 23, 2012 which froze MCSC funds for 52 weeks citing an intentional violation of university policies.
Although the group’s funding remains frozen until April 2013, the ASM Student Councilapproved the group’s funding eligibility for this year on April 25, 2012 amidst heated controversy over whether Council representatives had the proper training and remained viewpoint neutral in their decision.
Gardner said the CSO decision will not affect MCSC’s financial status within ASM. Once the group’s funding is unfrozen it will be able to receive the budget as determined by an ASM Conference Committee and April’s Student Council vote.
An MCSC representative did not return phone calls or emails requesting a comment Sunday.
