As the polls closed April 10 for the Associated Students of Madison elections, approximately 83 percent of the student population had not voted for their representative in UW-Madison's student government. Many ASM representatives said the 17 percent turnout was a record high due to the opt-out referendum on the ballot.
In the ASM Student Council constitution, the objectives of the student government are listed. These objectives include ensuring the participation of students in the governance and policy development, controlling all segregated fees and acting as a voice of the student body. Yet many students say they are unaware of the actions of ASM and its subsidiaries within the body including the Student Judiciary and Student Services Finance Committee.
With recent upsets over the denied eligibility of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan and Diversity Education Specialists, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court segregated fee case and the opt-out referendum, some students said they feel it is more important to understand the segregated fee process.
Many of UW-Madison's student organizations rely on the segregated fee system for survival. Under the system, organizations undergo an evaluation in hopes of gaining eligibility for funding, according to Roman Patzner, chair of SSFC. Seg-fees are a portion of tuition every student pays to fund student organizations that apply to SSFC.
\An organization that feels they are of service and that serves a broader interest of the student body can apply for funding through the Student Services Finance Committee,"" Patzner said.
After the application, the SSFC uses nine criteria to determine whether or not the particular organization deserves funding. The criterion include the specific need of the organization, the population of the student body that will be helped by the organization and the stipulation that no other organization provide the same services.
According to Patzner, most of the student organizations that are denied eligibility duplicate services already available on campus.
""They can't duplicate any other service found on campus,"" he said.
Organizations who do not meet these criteria may appeal to ASM's Student Judiciary, which can deem SSFC's decision unfounded and grant them a hearing in front of the ASM Student Council. If the student organization decides not to appeal the decision, they can wait two years to reapply.
If deemed eligible, organization members must present a proposed budget to the SSFC, which then determines what portion of segregated fees they will receive, according to Patzner. Additionally, selected organizations must be reevaluated every two years to remain eligible.
Currently, SSFC funds more than 20 student organizations.
Within the past year, three student registered organizations were denied eligibility for funding including MEChA, DES and the UW Infoshop. After denying eligibility, SSFC received mixed reviews from the ASM circle.
SSFC committee members said they denied the groups because they did not meet all nine requirements for student-funded organizations. For example, they said MEChA used SSFC money to recruit new students to the university and DES duplicated services already provided by the Multicultural Student Coalition.
Despite being denied twice before Chancellor Wiley overturned the decision, UW-Madison sophomore Adriana Varboza, who was co-chair of MEChA when it was denied, said she supports the seg-fee system, but faults those in power.
""It's not that the seg-fee system is wrong right now, it's just that people are not able to withdraw their own personal feelings from actual decision making,"" she said. ""The SSFC decision violated viewpoint neutrality.""
SSFC meetings, as well as ASM Student Council meetings, have been described by DES supervisor Michael Franklin as ""a circus."" He points out examples such as representatives trying to break quorum when eligibility issues are on the agenda or attempting to impeach ASM Chair Bryan Gadow and Vice-chair Emily McWilliams.
Johnathon Mertzig, staff member of the Infoshop, which was denied eligibility last fall, said he also finds corruption within the system and thinks the system itself could be improved as well.
""There's too much wiggle room for people to manipulate the system for political gain,"" he said. ""There are people that were on SSFC that were out to get us from the beginning.""
The Infoshop was denied eligibility on grounds that they are of no service to students and duplicate tasks of the library, Mertzig said.
Patzner said it is difficult to make a viewpoint neutral decision when student organizations appeal to individual members of the committee to approve their eligibility.
""A lot of the organizations that receive funding control our entire student government because they have a lot to lose,"" he said. ""So they make sure they have candidates that are sympathetic toward their budgets and their causes.""
Last October the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the UW System's segregated fee allocation process, which was challenged by Scott Southworth and two other UW-Madison law students. They challenged the process on grounds that it was unconstitutional to force college students to fund organizations that did not represent their ideologies, arguing it was against the First Amendment.
""The First Amendment gives you the right to speak. It also gives you the right not to speak,"" Southworth said in October 1999.
The university also argued the First Amendment was on their side.
""The funding of student services and a forum for the expression of diverse views does not offend the First Amendment. It instead furthers First Amendment values by promoting vigorous debate in an educational setting entirely suited to that discussion,"" read the sytem's legal brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Faith Kurtyka, a SSFC representative said the decision of the Supreme Court proves the validity of the seg-fee process.
""Our system has gone to the Supreme Court and back and consistently proved to be a good and fair system,"" she said.
Yet the recent debate over the opt-out system has questioned whether students should be required to pay seg-fees.
According to the opt-out plan that failed in the April 10 elections two-to-one, students would have the ability to choose which organizations they want to fund.
Patzner, a supporter of the opt-out system, said such a plan would make the seg-fee system more representative of the student body.
""[Opt-out] is a more democratic way of determining seg-fees than our current system, which is full of special interest,"" he said.
However, other SSFC representatives believe ASM representatives are better suited to act in the best interest of students.
""Students can vote for representatives to make those funding decisions for them with an adequate amount of information,"" Kurtyka said. ""You don't want to put student groups at the mercy of just a random student to check off an amount of money.""
Opt-out supporters argue the opt-out system would result in better communication between organizations and students.
""I think [opt-out] would increase the incentive of organizations to outreach the campus more,"" Patzner said.
Kurtyka, though, said the system would have a negative impact on students.
""Not only all groups, but all students would have suffered because [opt-out] would have been ... detrimental to the open forum of ideas we have here, to the marketplace of ideas that we pride ourselves on, to the type of educational experience UW-Madison is known for,"" she said.
