Associated Students of Madison Student Council addressed unexpected issues with the recently established Green Fund Wednesday. The complications have left the distribution of grants uncertain.
The Green Fund was created last year through the ASM bylaws to give funding for sustainable projects benefitting the student body. ASM created the Green Fund Allocation Board to distribute the $80,000 in the fund to Registered Student Organizations that apply for grants.
Last year, the GFAB received eight total applications and approved six. Finance Committee Chair Mary Prunty at a meeting Wednesday said grant decisions needed to be put on hold because of issues relating to rules on allocating segregated fees.
The rules contained in a document called F50 that was created by the UW Board of Regents, govern how allocable segregated fees can and cannot be distributed. According to the F50, segregated fees cannot go to a department's normal, campus-wide activities and functions.
The UW Office of Legal Affairs determined three of the six approved grants violated F50 because the grants required items that were considered under the use of a specific department. Some examples were solar panels on academic buildings and reusable university dining boxes.
“Anything that we buy that we give to another department is under the responsibility of that department to get themselves so that would be under campus-wide activities,” Prunty said.
This type of expenditure is new, so Prunty expects it will take awhile to fully figure out a system.
She said a goal is to continue discussion with the legal office and other parties on campus to figure out how to proceed with the Green Fund. Currently, there are two options for the future of the Green Fund: one is to restructure the Green Fund to stop grants that work with departments and the other is to find new sources for funding projects that go against F50, according to Prunty.
Student council also discussed a student input session for the Diversity Framework Implementation that the Ad Hoc Diversity Planning Committee is scheduled to host Oct. 14.
