After almost five hours of intense deliberation, the Student Services Finance Committee voted early Friday morning to cut over half of the funding for SAFEwalk, one of the three services provided by the Safe Arrival For Everyone program.
The debate concerned whether current SAFEwalk funding-composed of more than $60,000 in segregated fees-should continue, despite the fact that the service is used by only 0.2 percent of all SAFE users. In the end, the panel voted to cut $34,146 in funding from the $60,000 total, eliminating more than half of the program's budget.
One alternative advocated during the evening was the expansion of the SAFEride cab service, which is used more frequently by UW-Madison students, to compensate for the loss of SAFEwalk.
However, the decision was complicated when Transportation Administrator Gordon Graham presented a memo to SSFC on behalf of UW-Madison Transportation Services, announcing its intention to take over the funding of SAFEwalk if SSFC voted to zero-fund it. Transportation Services has funded for all three SAFE programs for the past 12 years.
\If SSFC funding for the SAFEwalk program is reduced or eliminated, then Transportation Services intends to fund SAFEwalk by eliminating the administrative, management and operational support for the cab program,"" said the memo, written by Transportation Services Director Larry Lunsway, who was not present at the meeting.
Some SSFC committee members viewed the memo as undermining the right of student representatives to make autonomous decisions.
""Our intention is not to cancel SAFEride,"" Graham said. ""If they continue funding the program as it is for at least another year, then we can have time to talk about what kinds of changes they'd like to be made.""
""I don't think that the cab can provide a comprehensive service,"" said SSFC committee member Lorenzo Edwards Jr. ""There is a particular need, and the service the cabs offer does not meet this need.""
Hannah Reese, a current SAFEwalk employee who attended the meeting, spoke about the need to continue funding. ""There's a lot [the SSFC] doesn't know,"" she said, arguing that the value of SAFEwalk goes beyond the numbers. ""They're 12 people, and maybe they don't know anyone who uses the service, but there are 50,000 students on this campus. Some of them really do use the service and take it very seriously.""
