The MultiCultural Student Coalition argued in an Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary hearing Friday that Student Services Finance Committee representatives did not remain viewpoint neutral in the committee’s fall decision to minimally fund the organization.
The appeal was based on SSFC’s move to minimally fund MCSC for the 2013-’14 fiscal year at $10,600 instead of approving the organization’s $1.4 million budget request. The minimal funding level would allow for, at minimum, an office, a part-time student hourly employee and basic supplies.
In the hearing, MCSC representatives said SSFC members violated ASM bylaws of viewpoint neutrality by using personal biases and value judgments in the decision.
The ASM bylaws state all funding decisions must be made in a viewpoint neutral manner, meaning student representatives may not take the mission of the group under consideration for funding into account when voting on budgets or grants.
In a brief, MCSC stated that SSFC had used unwarranted reasons to justify minimum funding for the organization.
Many SSFC representatives who voted to minimally fund the group cited significant internal changes, including a restructuring of the group’s student services since it was approved for funding eligibility in 2011, as a basis for the decision. Additionally, some SSFC members questioned whether the group effectively spent its funding in past years.
MCSC and ASM Student Council Rep. Olivia Wick-Bander said SSFC overstepped its bounds by minimally funding the group rather than making amendments to the budget.
“[SSFC] Chair [Ellie] Bruecker and ASM professional staff… determined that the budget [they] wrote for MCSC was more fiscally responsible than the budget MCSC had written for itself in order to fulfill its mission,” Wick-Bander said.
Bruecker disagreed, saying comments from SSFC members about fiscal responsibility were not a violation of viewpoint neutrality.
“Viewpoint neutrality does not dictate that SSFC members cannot have a viewpoint on how best to budget,” Bruecker said. “Viewpoint neutrality is the belief that SSFC cannot take the viewpoint of the group into account when making a budgeting decision.”
MCSC representatives also brought up several other instances in which they said funding protocol was not followed correctly, arguing SSFC showed a larger pattern of racial discrimination against certain organizations.
Bruecker said many errors in following protocol were accidental, such as when she was not aware of a policy requiring the release of the minimally funded budget to SSFC members a week before the committee’s decision. Bruecker said MCSC had no evidence that SSFC members showed personal biases against the group.
The Student Judiciary will deliberate and make a decision on the case within ten business days.
