A member of the Student Services Finance Committee resigned Monday, saying he had been labeled as an “extremist” and no longer felt serving on the committee was a productive use of his time.
University of Wisconsin-Madison senior German Larrain resigned from his position on the committee in an email to their representatives.
SSFC is tasked with allocating the General Student Services Fund, made up of segregated fees students pay each year as part of tuition. The funding is then granted to certain student organizations the committee determines provide a direct student service. Other registered student organizations can apply for grants from Associated Students of Madison, but GSSF groups are funded in a much larger way.
Larrain was part of a group that tried to drastically reform SSFC bylaws last year. Their proposal, Larrain said, would have prevented organizations from requesting funding for paid student workers and eliminated the GSSF designation, streamlining funding into one process for all Registered Students Organizations.
Student Council voted to create a committee this year to examine the GSSF eligibility criteria. The group is composed of GSSF groups and SSFC members, and Student Council Chair David Gardner said it will eventually include members of non-GSSF registered student organizations.
Larrain said using GSSF groups to help reform bylaws could elicit “valuable points,” but would not help eliminate the GSSF fund itself because groups “wouldn’t say anything against their own self interest.”
At an SSFC meeting Monday, Chair David Vines announced Larraine’s resignation and said he believes SSFC members have done “a good job.” ASM officials declined to comment further.
At the meeting, SSFC members also voted 9-0 to approve the $61,315 budget of Atheists Humanists and Agnostics, with two members abstaining from voting.
Representatives also heard a budget presentation from Veterans, Educators, and Traditional Students, which requested $34,874. SSFC will decide on their budget Thursday.
