The MultiCultural Student Coalition submitted an appeal to the Student Services Finance Committee this week about what MCSC members see as a “double standard” in SSFC’s treatment of policy violations.
SSFC denied funding eligibility to MCSC Sept. 23 because of policy violations in 2011 regarding a contract, which many SSFC members saw as an intentional violation. The organization was sentenced to a 52-week funding freeze.
However, SSFC commits numerous policy violations that go unaddressed, MCSC member Libby Wick-Bander said.
In the complaint, MCSC proposed among other measures that SSFC’s budget be frozen for two weeks and that the committee “receive no budget for the following year.”
“They’re pretty much asking for SSFC to not exist anymore,” SSFC Chair David Vines said at a Student Council meeting Wednesday.
Wick-Bander said the proposed sanctions were not the point of the appeal, but it was more about accountability to the campus.
“The message is not that we don’t want SSFC to function; we want it to function with integrity,” Wick-Bander said.
The main policy violations the complaint outlines deal with inconsistencies between ASM’s bylaws and standing rules in how appeals should be filed. Wick-Bander said she was told to file the appeal in three different ways by three different ASM officials.
Vines said he believes work needs to be done on the appeals process but said the process was outlined clearly to MCSC.
In addition, the complaint raised concerns such as inaudible meeting recordings, which Vines said may be valid, and inadequate training of members.
Vines said the appeal will move to the Student Judiciary.
