Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE), and Student Leadership Program (SLP), looked to renew their eligibility for General Student Services Fund at a Student Services Finance Committee hearing Monday.
Both groups previously received money from the fund, which allocated $1.4 million in 2010-11, and are hoping to extend their eligibilities for another two years.
According to SSFC Chair Matthew Manes, the amount of money the committee plans on allocating this year has ""yet to be decided.""
""We have tax-and-spend power, it is as much as we care to assess,"" Manes said.
The meeting was the first of many to come in an eligibility season that will review the current budgets of all of the 14 student groups receiving funds. SSFC will grant or deny the eligibility of eight groups up for re-assessment, and review the eligibility petition for Badger Aviators—a group seeking funds for the first time.
At the hearing, the relatively new SSFC, of which there are only three returning members, asked the two student groups various questions regarding amount of time the groups spend providing direct services to UW students and the nature of the services they intend to provide—both criteria required to receive General Student Services Funds, which are allocated by the SSFC.
PAVE, a student group that provides services to sexual assault and domestic violence victims and aims to educate students about those issues, received $80,000 in funding last year.
PAVE Chair Claire Peterson stressed the importance of the student group on campus.
""Personally, one of my best friends was a victim of rape our freshmen year."" Peterson said. ""I had no idea what to do, no idea what to say,and no resources to give her. I do not think this is an uncommon situation—one of the many reasons PAVE is a vital part of this university.""
SLP, a student organization that offers leadership development programs for students, received $66,000 the last year.
The SSFC will make its decisions Thursday, though a monetary amount will not be granted to the groups, should they be deemed eligible, until a later date.
