The Associated Students of Madison's Student Services Finance Committee is scheduled to decide upon the budgets of several student-of-color organizations at tonight's meeting.
Monday's meeting, which lasted until 2 a.m., was adjourned midway through deliberations over the Multicultural Student Coalition's budget without committee members making a final decision, which is scheduled to be made tonight.
But even though those who attend these meetings express strong emotions concerning UW-Madison's current campus climate, it is difficult to tell whether the average UW student is as informed.
ASM Chair Jessica Miller said it was really hard to say if dialogue concerning campus climate had increased in light of the recent SSFC meetings.
\I've gotten some feedback from the ASM e-mail address both positive and negative ... students saying 'Don't waste my money on something I'm not going to use,' and students saying, 'This is an incredibly important service and you should be funding it,'"" she said. ""I think it's pretty split.""
Katie Broton, a UW-Madison freshman, said she did not think the average freshman was as informed as they should be.
""I think that by having groups like MCSC out there, it would help to inform other students,"" she said.
Broton said she sought out organizations that promoted racial and ethnic awareness.
Kara Southwell, a UW-Madison sophomore, said she did not follow SSFC meetings or diversity initiatives on campus but was frustrated with the lack of diversity on campus.
Last year, she said she attended a forum to discuss the detriments of using racial labels. Programs like these, sometimes sponsored by MCSC, are useful, she said.
But at the same time, she said she was not sure about funding the group in full. She said she would first have to know the details of what members were planning on doing with the funds.
""I don't think our campus is intolerant,"" she said. ""I myself can't propose a plan to bring [more diversity] to our school.""
Brett Killion, a former UW-Madison student who graduated in 1999, said at the time he was an undergraduate, he did not really think about diversity or a lack thereof on campus.
""As far as getting a better education, I don't think it would have helped too much,"" he said.
Killion justified his claim by describing his job in a Madison accounting firm, where there is only one minority staff member.
Sometimes, he said, although it sounds ""terrible,"" he would assume black people he saw on campus were athletes.
Broton said while she thought student-of-color groups had been getting a lot of attention lately, students were getting a lot of misinformation through student media.
""I just think that there's more awareness out there,"" she said. ""But that the facts aren't completely truthful.""
Miller expressed similar concerns.
Much of the information is coming from sources like editorials, which don't always give the full picture or all of the right information, she said.
Miller also said she was wary of those students who would interpret budget cuts from different student of color groups as racism.
""I have no doubt that there are people on campus who, when the budget is cut, will see that as us taking a stance against diversity,"" she said. ""I think that that's horribly inaccurate.\
