The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee approved Student Leadership Program’s financial eligibility Thursday.
SLP, which works to promote student leadership, presented a financial plan Monday to SSFC in order to acquire funding from the committee.
SSFC voted in favor of SLP’s financing eligibility 13-1, however multiple members of the committee voiced concerns in the financing plan. The most common of these concerns was which SLP-run events in the plan to consider core programming and which to consider supportive programming.
In the plan presented Monday, SLP had listed an award ceremony conducted to reward leadership as a core program for the organization. Numerous SSFC members, however, disagreed with this stance, saying it did not forward the mission of the group and better fit the role of supportive programming.
In addition to voting on the financing eligibility of SLP, the committee also heard the financing presentation of F.H. King, a student organization focusing on sustainable agriculture.
Sunil Misra, F.H. King’s finance director, made the presentation to SSFC members, highlighting the core components to the organization’s activities around the campus, such as the group’s student farm.
The nearly two-acre farm, located at Eagle Heights Community Gardens, produces an average of 500-700 pounds of produce every week that is distributed to students for free each Friday afternoon on East Campus Mall.
In his presentation, Misra referred to the farm as “the heart of the organization.”
“Everything we do comes back to or deals with the student farm,” Misra said.
Misra also described programs such as the Fall Harvest Festival, which takes places at the end of October. It allows students to see the harvesting process up close, at the same time allowing them to see the proper ways to prepare the harvested food.
In addition, F.H. King hosts hands-on student workshops twice a month that teach participants a variety of agricultural skills. Misra referred to them as “the most important educational aspect of F.H. King.”
SSFC will consider the programs presented and will vote on F.H. King’s financial eligibility at its next meeting Sept. 15.
