With a new look, the Student Services Finance Committee met for their third official meeting of the fall semester Monday night.
Incoming Chair Jordan Pasbrig, Vice Chair Tessa Reilly and returning member Grace D’Souza as secretary were joined by new representatives John Grossardt, Jack Halama, Alex Hipler, Pranav Julakanti, Will Klos, Logan Knochenmus, Jessica Matson and Richard Shi.
Together, SSFC are tasked with divvying up over $50 million in student segregated fees, largely going to registered student organizations.
Suet Lee and Sarah Pepenella from BadgerSpill presented their eligibility hearing to the new and returning faces.
“BadgerSpill is a peer-to-peer support network made OF and FOR UW-Madison students. Spill your guts here, confidentially, and you'll get feedback, empathy, and encouragement from fellow Badgers who can relate,” according to their website.
D’Souza asked the organization about how they interact with other groups on campus aimed at helping student wellness.
Lee replied by stressing their relationship with groups such as ASK.LISTEN.SAVE. and University Health Services to help bring their services of confidential, online, peer messaging help for UW-Madison students.
Last semester’s SSFC struck down UHS’ proposed budget, as representatives believed there was a lack of adequate resources put toward mental health support.
An internal study by UHS noted they would have to hire between 19 and 33 mental health professionals over the next five years to meet increasing demand. Student visits to UHS for mental health rose by 34 percent over the past five years at the same time stigma surrounding the topic decreased.
In UHS’ proposed budget, they only requested three additional mental health professionals to be hired — not meeting the marks their internal review had demanded.
The committee, as in almost all cases, will review the eligibility hearing and deliberate about the finances of the group at a later date. BadgerSpill’s budget hearing is scheduled for next week.
