The Student Services Finance Committee approved 2013-’14 funding for the campus group Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics Thursday after making significant adjustments to its budget proposal.
The group was granted a final funding level of $67,440.01, which is $22,574.19 less than its initial budget request of $90,014.20.
The committee expressed concern over allocating too much funding to AHA without knowing if the group would use its full allocation in its first year of student segregated fee funding.
The committee cut several items from AHA’s initial budget request, including the position of social chair, as well as the number of paid staff funded to attend the Secular Student Alliance Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio.
Although the committee was scheduled to vote on the budget for Wisconsin Public Research Interest Group, committee members voted to move the decision to their next meeting Monday.
Representative Sarah Neibart said postponing the decision will provide “due process” by giving representatives time to learn the full background information to make an informed decision on the group’s budget.
Also in the meeting, the committee unanimously voted in support of a resolution urging University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor David Ward to approve WISPIRG’s request to contract non-student professional staff for the current year, which was passed by SSFC in the group’s budget decision last year but is still awaiting Ward’s approval.
SSFC also heard a budget request from the Working Class Student Union, a group that strives to educate the campus community on recognizing class diversity. The organization is requesting $51,519.50 for the 2013-’14 year.
SSFC will vote on the funding level for WCSU and hear budget requests from Adventure Learning Programs in its next meeting Monday.
