As a continuation of talks concerning campus climate at UW-Madison and ways different organizations can improve it, the Student Services Finance Committee heard the budget proposal for the Diversity Education Staff Sunday.
The group, composed of UW administrative staff members, aims to expand awareness of varying cultures on campus, said Armando Mejia, diversity education specialist.
The budget decisions for both the Multicultural Student Coalition and DES will be made at tonight's SSFC meeting at 6 p.m. at Memorial Union.
DES is needed to make up for the actions of university officials regarding campus climate failing to match the hetoric of the administration,"" Mejia said.
""How can you ... remain ignorant of other peoples' cultures and problems that will face you in our community when you graduate?"" he asked.
MCSC Chair Tshaka Barrows said while the group is predominantly dominated by students of color, it has ""goals and aims to impact all students.""
""This is neither a [politically correct] nor a minority set-aside program,"" Mejia said.
A significant portion of the proposed budget would go to adding five staff members to the current two, something necessary for positive results said Michael Franklin, diversity education specialist.
""If you want to get people here to make this a reality, then put the resources there,"" he said.
""Putting one staff member in charge of [diversity education on campus] obviously is not going to cut it.""
After telling the committee it had the right to ""zero-fund this project for next year,"" Franklin also asked members to realize DES is the only student-funded university staff dedicated solely to diversity education and campus climate.
Franklin said the organization gave students an opportunity to work with UW-Madison administrators to explore ""all the different adjectives"" stemming from a cross-cultural environment.
One way DES could help, Franklin said, would be through the education of student organizations about variant cultures.
""The student organizations are killing each other,"" he said. ""And it's amazing that there's not a resource to help them understand [cultural differences].""
Franklin also asked SSFC members to envision what the group was trying to achieve, since he said he knew the vagueness of the budget request was ""problematic.""
