The Student Services Finance Committee denied eligibility to the UW Labor Center and the UW InfoShop Wednesday.
The committee, which approved eligibility for WSUM, previously denied MEChA and the Diversity Education Staff.
SSFC members who voted against the groups Wednesday cited concerns about the benefits of their services to the UW-Madison community and duplication of services on campus.
The Labor Center vote was close, ending in a 6-6 tie broken by Roman Patzner, a UW-Madison senior and chair of SSFC.
Committee member Mark Baumgardner, a UW-Madison senior, voted against the Labor Center's eligibility.
\They focus energy on employees that are out of the country and provide work for those employees. ... It's not clear as to what they do for particular students on campus,"" he said.
SSFC member and UW-Madison senior Tom Clark cited the Student Labor Action Coalition as another group providing similar services to students.
The InfoShop was denied by a larger margin. The vote came after lengthy discussion of the InfoShop's usefulness. Some members, like UW-Madison sophomore Monica SanMiguel, said they feel the group adds color to the UW-Madison campus.
""[The university] is renowned for activism and student involvement,"" she said. ""I think [the InfoShop] is bringing a unique component to that.""
Other members were concerned with the organization's commitment to serving the community.
""It does not provide significant, specific and identifiable service to the university,"" Ryan Nichols, a UW-Madison senior and SSFC member, said.
The InfoShop's commitment to alternative views was another point of contention with many members. Drew Horn, a UW-Madison junior and committee member, noted the group's views ""alienate a large percentage of the population of this campus."" However, these views were not the basis for his decision.
The final votes did not rest well with SSFC member Faith Kurtyka, a UW-Madison junior.
""I voted in favor of all three groups,"" she said. ""They contribute to student empowerment. It's really too bad we've been declaring so many groups ineligible.""
Sarah Dibbert, a UW-Madison junior and InfoShop staff member agreed. She said she felt the denial ""wasn't based on any concrete evidence,"" noting that none of the members could truly judge the shop's value without visiting it.
Aaron Werner, a UW-Madison junior and SSFC member, said the denials were justified.
""As long as the group meets eligibility criteria, they'll pass,"" he said.
