The Student Services Finance Committee denied funding eligibility to a campus engineering organization during its meeting Thursday night. Additionally, the committee unanimously approved the eligibility of WSUM student radio as well as the Tenant Resource Center.
Polygon has been a registered student organization since 1925.
UW-Madison junior and senior co-president of Polygon Craig Mackenzie said the organization sought approximately $10,000 in funding for the 2007-'08 academic year. Senior member Jessica Kroll explained that Polygon holds social events and provides information to direct students towards involvement in various engineering-related organizations.
The primary concern voiced by committee members was the eligibility requirement that ""a substantially equivalent service is not being provided elsewhere."" Various committee members stated their beliefs that even in the absence of Polygon, students would still have many ways to involve themselves in engineering-related student organizations.
""What concerns me about the organization is that I feel as though a lot of the services that they provide are provided by a lot of other organizations on this campus,"" Sree Atluru, finance chair of SSFC said.
""I question whether or not everything being provided here can even be considered a service,"" Vice Chair Kellie Sanders said. ""All I'm seeing is programming, and a lot of programming provided by other organizations.""
In refusing to grant funding eligibility, the committee may have set a precedent to deny eligibility to student organizations whose main purpose is to organize and present to students opportunities provided by other existing organizations.
""We have heavily relied on SSFC funding in the past,"" Mackenzie said, who doubts Polygon will be able to raise equivalent funding through fundraising or grants.
Before deciding on the eligibility of the three organizations that presented last week, the board held eligibility hearings for the Student Leadership program, MEChA, the student Chicano/Chicana association and Calvary Lutheran Chapel Religious Student Organization. Decisions on the eligibility of these organizations will be made at the committee's next meeting Thursday.
