There was recently a time when the ongoing feud between ASM's Student Services Finance Committee and Roman Catholic Foundation-UW-Madison appeared to be based on important questions of church and state.
Now, however, the situation has descended to pettiness and deception, with the SSFC's latest tactic highlighting little more than a penchant for holding a grudge.
Citing a lack of significant additional components,"" ASM's purse managers have denied the RCF-UW funding that it has received for years and is now embroiled in a separate battle with the Student Judiciary Committee over whether the decision is fair.
Based on the questionable application of an obscure bylaw, it was not. In any case, a branch of ASM is coming off as irresponsible and incompetent as the RCF-UW remains in the headlines, this time as a victim.
Ironically, the SSFC may be justified in wanting to deny a powerful and wealthy catholic organization funding largely intended for struggling student groups. Riding high on contributions and various forms of private enterprise, the RCF-UW uses public money to advocate right wing social causes and a pan-conservative agenda.
Unfortunately, when the SSFC failed last year to end RCF-UW funding on those grounds, they recouped with a backdoor strategy that neither addresses the real issue at hand nor is likely to succeed.
Instead, the Student Judiciary will probably reverse their present decision, further focusing attention on a sideshow and allowing the RCF-UW to continue its mission with student funding.
If members of ASM truly want to deny the RCF-UW funding based on its archconservative religious doctrine, they should say so and proceed accordingly.
But the powerful players working on behalf of the Catholic behemoth are too sharp and too well schooled to be defeated by cheap tactics and bureaucratic trickery.
