The student organization Atheists, Humanists, & Agnostics requested an increase in their budget proposal to the Student Services Finance Committee for the next fiscal year to better campus-wide programs and events.
AHA formed at UW-Madison in 2005, and serves as a campus resource for students seeking to explore questions of secularism and spirituality.
“Our goal on campus is to foster a relationship between the students and their faith and religion, or a lack thereof,” AHA President Nicole Niebler said. “We are trying to develop people’s religious identity.”
These goals tie into the new budget requests AHA submitted for 2016-’17. Aside from salary increases for executive staff, much of AHA’s requested budget increases was for programming and events, in an effort to reach more of the student population.
AHA representatives said they plan to allocate more money for the Freethought Festival and Freethought Speaker Series. Put on by AHA each spring, the festival brings speakers to UW-Madison from across the nation to address issues of secularism and faith, and the series continues to bring prominent speakers to campus throughout the year. The increased budget will be put toward speaker fees in order to attract more recognizable names to speak.
“The more well-known the speaker is, the more students will be interested in those events,” Niebler said.
When approving this budget, SSFC members looked less at AHA’s specific goals, and more at their fiscal responsibility, ultimately granting the group $71,301.50 for the 2016-’17 budget year.
“Our goal is to open the marketplace of ideas in a neutral way,” SSFC Chair Thuy Pham said. “What I personally think about the organization shouldn’t affect their ability to receive grants and do work. They are eligible for funds, and they provide a unique perspective on campus.”
With increased funds for their programming goals, Niebler said she hopes AHA can continue to grow, in spite of some resistance on campus.
“We’ve had a problem with people ripping down our signs, because AHA is seen as controversial to people not supportive of secularism,” Niebler said. “But for the most part people say thank you, keep doing what you do. They appreciate that we are trying to stimulate thought-provoking conversation on campus.”
