SOFTBALL TEAM SETS SIGHTS ON NIU
FAREWELL, FRANCES: With her stay in Madison nearly over, Frances reflects on turning a page in her life ARTS
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Badgers seek a late-season win over Huskies before they face Michigan State
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
Complete campus coverage since 1892
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dailycardinal.com
$2,500,000
By Jessica Feld THE DAILY CARDINAL
The amount a student committee on campus allocated to ASM and various student groups
student groups
Some of the groups have budgets as low as $4,676 per year, with others as high as $306,801
$445
per semester
Every student on campus must pay the segregated fees that provide the funds for student groups
ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Follow THE MONEY
Key position goes unfilled in oversight of millions in students’ funds By Charles Brace THE DAILY CARDINAL
One important point can sometimes be lost amid discussions about the Associated Students of Madison: that the organization has significant control over $2.5 million in student fees. Those funds, commonly called segregated fees, must be paid by every student on campus and cost $445.04 each semester for fall 2008 and spring 2009, according to the Office of the Registrar. In an investigation into how those fees are spent, The Daily Cardinal looked to see if there was oversight, accountability and transparency in funds that students expect to be used as efficiently as possible.
portion of the funds. Roughly 78 percent of the fees are deemed nonallocable, with students only able to advise the chancellor’s office on how the money is spent. These fees cover items like contracts and building costs. But that leaves over $2.5 million in funds that are directly controlled by students, though the chancellor must approve any of those student decisions. Yet the full 33-member ASM Student Council rarely deals with the issue of segregated fees. The majority of funding decisions are handled by the Student Services Finance Committee, a group within ASM that deals with budget decisions relating to student groups and ASM’s internal budget. SSFC currently has 10 members. When SSFC presented their decisions to the full ASM Student Council on how much funding student groups should receive, only the funding of Engineers Without Borders was debated. The other budgets were passed largely without comment during the Feb. 4 meeting, despite some groups receiving no funding and other groups keeping significant increases in money. Examples include the group F.H. King receiving almost $10,000 more than it received the previous year and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Student Council having its $59,000 budget completely cut, yet little debate was offered by average ASM representatives. Kurt Gosselin, chair of SSFC at the time, said it was fairly common for the full Student Council not to make adjustments to the group budgets presented by SSFC. “They realize that since they haven’t had the presentations [from
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What students have control over Of the $445.04 paid per student, ASM only has direct control over a
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Walker declares decision to run for Wis. governor
BY THE NUMBERS
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SPORTS
the groups] or sat through the two or three hours of debate that it’s not their place to make individual line-item changes,” he said. That means SSFC, where the number of members over the past year has fluctuated between five and the current 10, has a large amount of discretion in terms of how the millions in segregated fees are spent and which groups receive funding. Looking for oversight Even when simply looking at how student groups use the money given to them, questions arise over whether student funds are being spent as responsibly as possible. ASM is supposed to fill the position of GSSF accountability liaison. GSSF stands for General Student Services Fund, the pool of money used to fund service-providing registered student groups. The liaison position is intended to make sure student groups are using their funds responsibly and in accordance with university guidelines. However, the position has remained unfilled this year. Although SSFC members have some interaction with student groups, no one has sole responsibility for making sure they are in compliance with university policies. “No major issues came up this year due to a lack of the filled position, but it did become a burden on SSFC leadership, who already commit up to 40 hours a week working on SSFC-related matters,” SSFC Chair Carl Fergus said in an e-mail. “Next year, we hope that by making this a paid student hourly position that it will be filled, and in fact three people have already approached me with an interest in the position.” Groups currently do have to provide attendee lists for events, along with midyear and end-of-the-year reports on spending. ssfc page 3
DANE—Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced his candidacy for governor at an event Tuesday at Henry Farms in Dane, Wis. Running under the slogan “Believe in Wisconsin Again,” Walker, a Republican, said he would lead the state in rebuilding the economy. “For years, too many of the politicians in Madison ignored the looming crisis so they could continue to spend more and more taxpayer dollars,” Walker said in his speech. Criticizing Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget as costly and contributing to big government, Walker promised to return the state to principles of limited government, economic growth and personal freedom. Walker is not new to Wisconsin politics, having served four terms in the state Assembly starting in 1993 and becoming Milwaukee’s county executive in 2002. Although it remains uncertain
whether Doyle will run for a third term, the Democratic Party criticized Walker for his campaigning style. “Scott Walker is poised to start one of the most negative campaigns in the history of Wisconsin,” Alec Loftus, spokesperson for Wisconsin’s Democratic Party, said. “Scott Walker is not offering any new ideas, … any new solutions. He’s just offering new attacks on Doyle.” According to Loftus, Doyle remains focused on creating jobs, fixing the economy and maintaining education as the state’s priorities. “Doyle is working with President Obama to train workers and stimulate the economy,” Loftus said. “He is not focusing on the campaign at this point.” Portraying the Doyle administration as disconnected and failing to maintain the interests of Wisconsin workers, Walker said his administration would work closely with state residents. walker page 3
ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced his decision to run for governor Tuesday. It is still unknown whether Gov. Jim Doyle will run.
Radio station partnership is last chance for Mifflin sponsorship By Rebecca Holland THE DAILY CARDINAL
A local event promotion company filed a street-use application Monday to host the 40th annual Mifflin Street Block Party, featuring a WSUM sound stage. If the Madison Street Use Staff Team approves DCNY PRO’s permit application at Wednesday’s meeting, the sponsors would close the intersection of Mifflin
and Bassett Streets and erect a stage where WSUM would supply musical entertainment from 1 to 7 p.m. Jenny Underwood, station manager at WSUM, said when the station was approached by DCNY PRO, they decided to take the opportunity. “It sounded fun for us,” mifflin page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”