Associated Students of Madison Chair Carmen Goséy said she does not believe the committee in charge of student segregated fees has enough transparency and accountability in their budget process.
Goséy proposed to amend the budget process to require a vote from ASM’s Coordinating Council if SSFC wants to add, delete or alter a line item by more than $10,000.
“[This] is to add more voices at the table and not just 15 people on a subcommittee that don’t deal with the ASM internal budget on a yearly basis like the people in this room do,” Goséy said to the council.
SSFC Chair Colin Barushok voiced strong opposition to this change and said the Student Council members who sit on his committee provide transparency. He said this proposed bylaw change was reactionary following a “dumb” $50,000 addition for Student Legal Services that Student Council struck down last week.
Barushok contends that this demonstrated the current system is effective, and the checks and balances in place are enough.
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Barushok said.
Ariela Rivkin, chair of the Grant Allocation Committee, said there are currently enough checks and balances and this change would not raise accountability. She said she thinks a threshold of only the majority, and not a two-thirds vote, would be ineffective.
“Don't get rid of the check just because you don’t like the balance,” said Rivkin, who said she has seen the system work.
Other council members, including Nominations Board Chair Vanessa Studer, expressed concern that adding in an approval from Coordinating Council would create a disportionate amount of power for chairs, who could vote on Student Council and Coordinating Council.
However, Secretary Deena Whitwam reminded council members that Coordinating Council would only vote on “significant changes” made at the last minute, and said she felt this proposal was very reasonable.
Ultimately the measure failed with most representatives choosing to abstain from voting.
