"Bury my Heart at SFC"

I’m back. I took the longest break from blogging in quite a while. It’s been about three weeks since the last update, and much as happened since. I’ve been meaning to write something earlier, and I got about half-way through a post before getting sidetracked. Since my feelings back then aren’t the same as now, I decided not to even bother finishing that one. I have a process when I write, and everything has to turn out just right. Because of that, I sometimes don’t update at all because I can’t find the proper time to complete the task. Nevertheless, on this cold and billowy last night of November, I shall update at last.

Part of my previous hesitation in updating had to do with the just completed Senate Finance Committee process. I went through a whirlwind of emotions during the last few weeks, and thought it wasn’t proper to speak on things until it was sorted out. I don’t know just how many of my readers (if there are any) are up to date on the very hard to find budget numbers for segregated fee funded enterprises. Basically, a portion of the money students pay for tuition is designated as “segregated fee money” and is appropriated by the Student Association to pay for costs deemed under “Student Life and Interest.” Thus far, there are several centers and programs that are funded with seg fees, including the entire UWM Athletics Program, the Student Association (including my salary) the UWM Children’s Center, the LGBT and Women’s Resource Centers, the B.O.S.S program, the University Legal Clinic, the Student Activities Office, the U-Park program, and a few others. In total, students paid/will pay $216 each semester during the 2010-2011 school year towards these areas. The Senate appoints members to a committee which decides the total funding of these areas, which is then passed by the Senate, and signed into law by the President. The proposed seg fee changes then take place next year.

After about eleven hours of committee meetings, and much debate from the entire committee, SFC reached an accord, and will present its decision to the Senate for approval on Sunday. The major things that I successfully fought for were a cut to Athletic’s “black hole” budget (currently $79.75 per student per semester) and full funding for the Office of Student Life Plan, which rearranged the Student Activities Office, combined the centers under one funding block, and created the “Inclusive Excellence Center” which will replace LINKS, and focus on minority representation and retention around campus.

SFC voted to allocate $77.25 for Athletics, $34.90 for OSL, and $15 for SAC. The Children’s Center and Legal Clinic saw no change. $6.70 was allocated to the “Campus Activities Board” which will work to bring in big speakers, and events on campus.

The biggest thing I fought for, and lost, was the amount allocated to the U-Park Program. For those of you who don’t know, Milwaukee County is removing UWM’s park and ride program at the lake. Those students who used to park there will be forced to either take the bus, compete for 600-700 spaces at the Capitol and Humboldt Park and Ride, or park in UWM’s new on-campus lot at the Columbia St. Mary’s area. Although students will still pay $12 per semester to UWM’s U-Park program, those parking at the CSM lot will be forced to pay $4 a day.

I tried, I fought and I lost. For weeks the Student Association had been urging U-Park to consider making the CSM lot free to use for students, and augmenting the loss in revenue and the cost of upkeep by increasing the seg fee by a few dollars. U-Park denied our pleas. They claimed “free” student parking on campus would inundate nearby neighborhoods with student parkers unable to find a spot in the lot, and that the loss in revenue from a decrease in parking tickets would cause other services offered by U-Park to decline. One member of the P.E.C committee charged with passing U-Park’s budget claimed he “could just not support free student parking.” So as per usual when the University makes a costly mistake buying property they cannot afford, the students foot the bill. I suspect that after failing to generate their expected income, U-Park will come to SFC next year asking for an increase in seg fees to support the lot. In the mean time, student parkers will have to begin paying $4 a day to park on campus, beginning this fall. Budget concerns or not, this move goes against the student interest, and U-Park should admit its failure. Instead they act as if students should thank them for this lot. I can only hope next year’s committee can find a way to sort out the problem, and remind U-Park who pays its wages.

This is starting to drag on a bit, so I’ll sign off for now. I’ll update soon with an upcoming SLIC event, as well as the goings on of the next Senate meeting.

Senate Finance, Food Permits, and SAO Drama

Last night’s meeting kicked off the Senate Finance Committee, and after only about an hour, I was left wanting for more. There’s something magical about SA after dark. Maybe it’s the empty union, or the intensity of seeing your peers on campus when you should be home relaxing, but something about nightly meetings really spices things up.

Although I’ve been waiting to begin the SFC process for months, things could have went horribly wrong tonight, as I was stuck at KFC (no that’s not another abbreviation for a committee, it actually is Kentucky Fried Chicken) for about 45 minutes. I thought my roommates and I would have ample time to pick up a doubledown sandwich or two before I had to be on campus, but thanks to a large order, and the slowest service imaginable, I came dangerously close to missing the meeting, and being ejected straight off the committee for good! Thankfully, I made it there just in time, and next time, I’ll make sure to allow more than an hour if I want to get takeaway before a big meeting.

Probably the most interesting point during the meeting was the ineligibility of every resource center, due to the plan to include these together in the Student Life Organizations block. Even though we ruled the Women’s Center, the LGBT Center, etc, ineligible for funding, only because we are going to fund them under a different module, it felt odd equating these important resources with ineligibility. I capped off a day filled with Student Activities Office tension, by being the second to a motion finding the Student Activities Office ineligible for funding, due to it being a duplicate service to the “Office of Student Life,” the new center to be put in place by SFC funding.

As for the tension before last night, yesterday morning I authored a new plan to reorganize food sale permits under the Union Reservation and Event Planning Services Office, instead of the Student Activities Office. This plan also includes an end to the previous “six food permits per zone per semester” policy, and replaces it with an unlimited number of food permits that can be issued, outside of six on campus buildings, instead of the previous zone system. The plan also increases the maximum number of food permits per Student Organization to five per semester, which I’m confident RSO’s will appreciate. Obviously, SAO did not seem pleased. I am awaiting an email from Eric Jessup-Anger and the SAO office, on when a meeting will take place to talk about the proposed changes. The plan already received the support of the Dining Services Committee, and I’m confident it will pass in the Senate. Regardless of SAO’s reservations, these changes will pass, and the students will have victory.

I received some good news yesterday, I am to be the subject of the UWM Post’s second “Know Your Government” senator profile, to be printed in next week’s issue. I’m excited to field some questions from the Post’s SA reporter, and I’m humbled by the honor of being featured in our campus newspaper.

The next SFC meeting is next weekend, and the committee will hear direct presentations from those institutions seeking segregated fee funds, including Athletics, which I’m looking forward to hearing from. I plan on working on legislation to be discussed at the next senate meeting also, including a proposed limit on the number of presentations per senate meeting, and a new procedure for filing complaints to the Union Policy Board.

-Red Menace out.

Late Report on the Eau Clair Trip

Better late than never, and know that I have the time, I suppose I'll fill everyone in on the UC trip to Eau Clair, as well as the non-eventful senate meeting.

The Trip to Eau Clair lasted from Friday to Sunday, and after experiencing the city, I can safely say I never want to set foot in Eau Clair for the rest of my life. Friday night was spent wandering around what passes for "downtown" and although Senators Johnson, Banks, and I had some fun, the overarching theme here is how terribly boring that city is.

As far as actual events at the UC trip, the most interesting was the REPS/UC merger. The presidents and vice presidents of all the UW schools, which make up REPS, decided to join with UC, making one united front. REPS will act as sort of an oversight on UC's actions, as well as set the budget UC operates off of. This change makes the current UC board of directors quick almost irrelevant, as they will cease to exist once the merger goes through. Now that Milwaukee is part of UC, the general consensus it that while there is a board of directors, we deserve representation on it. With that idea in mind, I ran for a seat during a meeting in which UC board vice-chair Dan Posca resigned, due to pressure from the organization about his racist/sexist comments, and general conduct.

The election would have went well, as the only schools in the meeting were Madison and Milwaukee, although since we're not technically current members of UC, we were allowed to put candidates forward, but not to vote for them. Safe to say, I lost that election. Nonetheless, I put up a good fight, and Milwaukee will have a seat on the board by January for sure.

The conference gave me the ability to get to know Max Love, the secretary of UC's board, as well as Sana Khan, also a board member. It was nice to see other progressive and passionate student representatives.

Once I get my hands on the legislation REPS passed, I'll fill the blog in on the new voting policies, and other substantial changes. Senate meetings have been pretty quiet, but with SFC coming up, it won't be long before the tidal wave hits the shore.

-Red Menace out.