The University of Wisconsin-Madison Associated Students of Madison approved its internal budget Wednesday. In addition to debating the “green fund,” the council voted to eliminate funding for United States Student Association membership.
Allotment for USSA membership for the 2015 fiscal year had a proposed budget of $10,000.
The USSA, an education and advocacy group, aims to give all students a voice in issues pertaining to students on both a local and national level, according to its website.
The controversy behind ASM funding the USSA stemmed from issues such as the association’s link to various partisan issues, including abortion and military involvement.
Student Judiciary Chair Nicholas Checker motioned to zero the fund, stating that the association’s intended purpose has not been upheld.
“For an organization that is supposed to be about inclusivity, this group has somehow managed to insult such a myriad of students it is unbelievable,” Checker said. “In general, I just don’t understand how we could give even a penny to [this] organization… it’s just lunacy.”
Shared Governance Committee Chair Sarah Neibart spoke to the association’s insensitivity to the pro-Israel community, mentioning one of its policy papers that proposes to stop foreign aid to Israel.
“As a student who has lived in Israel … I am very insulted that people in this organization are firstly, not multicultural competent, but also, not worldly enough to understand how this world is, the foreign policy issues of this country and also what students on university campuses need,” Neibart said.
Student Services Finance Committee member Justin Bloesch supported the funding of the USSA, saying there are certain issues that ASM alone cannot address on a federal level.
Student Council representative Maria Giannopoulos agreed, but said that there are other organizations on campus better suited to take on these issues.
Funding for USSA membership was voted on by attending council members and was ultimately eliminated.
Graduate representative Kyle Rak also called the budget of the “green fund” into question.
The current budget holds an $80,000 allotment for the fund to be used for student-led environmental initiatives on campus.
Rak argued that the decision to fund the project should be made by the UW student body and be voted on in the referendum in the spring.
SSFC member Michael Babcock opposed the proposal of the fund being taken to referendum.
He said that with the proposal to increase student segregated fees to support recreational sports already on the upcoming referendum, the “green fund” may get overlooked.
“I feel like the green fund was well researched and well formulated,” Babcock said. “We are being proactive talking about this.”
In a 21-1 vote, the “green fund” was kept in the internal budget, with the condition that bylaws must be passed in two consecutive student council meetings that would outline the organization of the fund.
The budget will pass to SSFC for approval and review.
An earlier version of this story was amended to include the following correction: Sarah Neibart spoke about USSA's insensitivity to the pro-Israel community, not the Jewish community.
