Senate runs late into night to complete funding requests

In a meeting that lasted nearly six hours, the SA Senate approved funding for all of the entities that were recommended for funding by the Senate Finance Committee, plus added funding back into the budget for four entities that were declared ineligible by SFC: Women's Resource Center (WRC); Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center (LGBT), Peer Outreach and Mentoring (i.e. the LINKS center) and the Center for Volunteerism and Student Leadership (CVSL). However, the means by which this was done is a parliamentary nightmare that I, for one, don't feel comfortable about. I will go into the funding votes, from the beginning, and discuss all the decisions made. Those of you who fancy yourself to be experts on parliamentary procedure may wish to inject commentary as to how legal this is, and what the ramifications of the process as done are.

After attending to the necessary business of hearing reports and electing replacement senators to fill vacancies, the next item in Special Orders was the SFC funding requests. Most of the groups who applied were recommended for some level of funding. One group, Campus Activities Board, was approved for a token amount of 5 cents per student (or about $1400 total). This recommendation was made because the SFC did not think they were doing anything useful, but since they are a standing committee of SA, they must be funded at some level. Campus Activities Board is the organization that sponsors the Homecoming events at UWM, and has sponsored several other events in the past.

Six other organizations were declared ineligible for SFC funding: These are the organizations, together with a summary of the reasons they were declared ineligible:

Panther Dance Team -- neither a sub-unit of SA nor a critical service as defined in the SFC Bylaws section VII.D
Union Activities Board (8th Note) -- neither a sub-unit of SA nor a critical resource
Peer Outreach and Mentoring (LINKS) -- not a sub-unit of SA, and provides duplicated service already covered by the Peer Mentoring Center in Bolton Hall
Center for Volunteerism and Student Leadership -- not a sub-unit of SA and provides a duplicate service, since SA also provides opportunities for volunteerism and student leadership
Women's Resource Center -- not a sub-unit of SA, provides a duplicate service since SA has a Women's Issues Coordinator. Also, while it is an on-campus resource center not currently funded by SAC, it does not meet the requirements of Section VII.D8, because it does not serve the needs of all UWM students.
LGBT Resource Center -- not a sub-unit of SA, provides a duplicate service since SA has an LGBTQ Issues Coordinator. Also, while it is an on-campus resource center not currently funded by SAC, it does not meet the requirements of Section VII.D8, because it does not serve the needs of all UWM students.

With the exception of the SA Legislative and Executive allocations, two stipulations were put onto every group for which the SFC recommended funding:

I. SA Logo Stipulation: All official advertising/materials of the organization/deparment must prominently display the official SA Logo. The SA Senate will determine when a violation of this stipulation has occurred. A first time violation within any 12 month period will carry a fine of up to $10000, as determined by the SA Senate. Second and subsequent violations of this stipulation within any 12 month period will carry a fine of $10000.
II. Oversight Stipulation: Not including SFC suggestions, significant alterations to proposed budgets or negative alterations to services provided must be approved in advance by the SA Senate. The SA Senate will determine when a violation of this stipulation has occurred. A first time violation within any 12 monthe period will carry a fine of no more than $50000, as determined by the SA Senate. Second and subsequent violations of this stipulation within any 12 month period will carry a fine of no less than $10000 and no more than $50000, as determined by the SA Senate.

Two other groups received additional stipulations:
UWM Athletics: Funding level unconditionally set at $74.00, and to approve $77.75, contingent based on acquiring an additional $250,000.00 annually from the University, and it can not be from Segregated Fees.

Student Activities Office: Amount of funding would not go toward an assistant director.

When the funding requests came up, a question was put to the floor as to whether the groups that were denied funding could even be brought up by the Senate. From the SFC Bylaws:

XV. Senate Approval

A. The Senate may approve, deny or change a recommendation to fund or deny funding to an applicant.
B. The Senate may not fund an applicant whose request for funding was not considered by SFC regardless of the reason for non-consideration.

The argument (presented primarily by Senator Dan Bahr) was that since the organizations were declared ineligible, they were not considered by SFC for funding, and therefore could not be added back in by the Senate. After submitting the matter to the Student Court justice kept on hand to act as Parliamentarian, the ruling was that the determination of ineligibility was effectively a recommendation by SFC to deny funding, which could be changed by the Senate in accordance with Part A. Part B was put in place to prevent an organization from bypassing the SFC process by waiting to submit until after SFC had finished their recommendations, not to give the SFC absolute power to deny a group without Senate oversight.

With that ruling dealt with, the first motion on the floor was to approve the recommendation as presented by SFC. As this requires a 2/3 vote, it failed. Then a motion was made to split off the decision on the six groups denied funding plus UPARK. That motion passed by a majority vote (it did not approve or deny funding). The next motion was to approve the recommendations by the SFC for all other groups, which passed by the necessary 2/3.

After this, a motion was made put the four student resource centers (LINKS, WRC, LGBT and CVSL) into a package and approve them en masse. Heated debate ensued, but this motion failed by one vote.

The next motion was to approve the LGBT center for eligibility. After more heated debate, this passed 21-7.

The next motion, which would approve WRC, had another strange quirk in it. Senator Antwan Jones was not in the room when the roll was called, but he entered as the vote was being counted. When he asked for the right to vote on the matter, he was denied, being told that the votes had been counted (even though they had not yet been announced). Despite that, the motion failed failed 18-10, another close call. As it turned out, his vote would have made it 19-10, which still would have failed.

At this point, a motion was made to adjust the SAC funding, as now it looked like SAC would need extra funding to cover the lost resource centers. After more rancor, the motion was tabled until afterward to see just how much extra funding would be needed.

At this point, it was getting to be 10:40 p.m., and the ballroom was only reserved until 11:00. (A word of advice to whoever reserves rooms for SA: If you are going to reserve the room until 11:00, go all the way and reserve it until midnight, as no one will reserve a room for that hour anyway. True, no one's going to kick you out of that room in the meantime, but at least you don't have the mad panic at 10:40 wondering what to do.) So a motion was made to recess the meeting until another time to be determined by Speaker Voigtlander, so that they didn't automatically reject all unconsidered organizations. Since no one was sure if they could make the meeting time and they couldn't agree on one on the spot, the vote to recess failed 14-16. Thus the meeting continued.

Debate times were constantly being shortened to get things done. So here are the remaining votes in rapid succession:
Package WRC and LINKS and approve them for eligibility: Passed 21-10
Deny eligibility to UAB & Panther Dance: Passed 21-9
Approve UPARK at $9.00, up from the $8.50 recommendation: Passed 25-4
Approve Eligibility for CVSL: Passed 24-5
Approve the four newly eligible organizations at 2006-2007 levels: Delayed to consider amendment
Amendment to stipulate that the funds only be used for student employees: Failed 4-26
Approval of 2006-2007 funding levels: Passed 21-6

Also, in a (literal) last minute action the Concurrent Services Act was passed. This defines the Presidential Cabinet in the Student Senate Bylaws as the President, Vice President, Chief of Staff, Treasurer, Academic Affairs Director, Legislative Affairs Director, and Shared Governance Director.

A complete list of funded groups, their per student funding levels, and an approximate total funding level, will appear later.

SA Senate Meeting November 12: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It is good to see the Student Association Senate functioning in the expected manner again . . . or is it?

Six vacant Senate seats were filled, which is a good sign. Most of them, as expected, are people invested in the status quo, so the chances of radical change taking place are slim. In this case, however, the process as outlined appears to be working, so I am treating this as a net plus.

The proposed Student Court nominee was not taken up, as she was unable to attend. However, a new Shared Governance Director was appointed and confirmed: Brandon Decker. His confirmation places him in the list of people for whom the separation of powers, were it to be enforced, would be definitively forced to choose either his Senate seat or his new directorship.

Executive Order
This is an amazing loophole so large you can drive a herd of mastadons through it. The Order "ordered" Ms. Prahl to "use any and all private funds" to obtain legal counsel. By framing it as an executive action, it was packaged as a Special Order. The Senate Bylaws, Article II, Section 3d states that Private Account Expenditures are normally done by automatic consent, unless a senator objects, in which case it is pulled and moved to New Business. But it was framed as an Executive Order, which filed it under an executive action, not a Private Account Expenditure automatic consent item. This supposedly triggered Article II, Section 3g:

All executive actions to be included in Special Orders shall follow a specified procedure. The President shall report on the executive actions and upon the completion of the President's report, all items shall be included in t a consent item and approved at that time, unless a senator objects to an item. The Senate may overturn an executive action by a 2/3 majority vote.

By doing it this way, Article V, Section 3b of the Executive Bylaws, which states that "This $2000 [minimum amount in the account] shall be used only for emergency purposes, with approval of 2/3 of the Senate" was bypassed. So now, instead of it taking a 2/3 vote to approve the expenditure, it took a 2/3 vote to prevent the expenditure.

This creates a new potential avenue for exploitation: Fiat by executive action. The President could, if she were unscrupulous, simply decree her will by executive action, and dare the Senate to come up with the 2/3 necessary to overturn it. This would require a more independent Senate than what I have witnessed to date.

Separation of Powers at stalemate
Antwan Jones' Separation of Powers act failed, but the passages in the Senate Bylaws that prohibit senators from serving on the Cabinet are still there, with the dilatory motion to strike them tabled. The idea was that a compromise position was to be drafted, but we will see what compromise can be made.

Senate Finance Committee bylaws approved
The Senate Finance Committee Bylaws were approved. One of the more interesting elements of this process is that it became clear that the senators who sit on SFC don't get to draft them. Rather, they are created by another body who forwards them to University Legal to insure that state laws are being followed, and then they are sent to the full Senate for approval by a 2/3 vote. The problem is that there are 13 members of SFC, including the Vice President, so it is possible for every member of SFC to vote against the bylaws but still have them approved, forcing the people who voted against the bylaws to operate under them.

Ban on breastfeeding in Union offices?
When the "Registered Student Organization Rights Act of 2006" came up for a vote, one of its authors, Senator Dan Bahr, lobbied for it by saying he had passed by one of the University offices and saw a topless woman breastfeeding her child there. This, plus other unspecified inapporpriate activity, was the reason that he wanted the Senate to recommend that the Union Policy Board change its policy on student organization membership and adda clarifying passage that Union offices are intended to be used for administrative purposes only. I will not comment on what Mr. Bahr thought he was doing by peering into Union offices not his own. Instead, I will focus on more salient points. Why even bring this up before the Senate? The other author of this legislation was Robert Stueber, the current chair of the Union Policy Board, and Senator Russel Scott is the UPB vice-chair. Are they so impotent within their board that they could not have brought this matter to the UPB themselves? The document that is being recommended for change is the Student Organization Manual, which is a publication of the Student Activities Office, not the UPB, and does not derive its material from the UPB, so how do the authors and sponsors intend to affect anything by asking the UPB to do anything? In addition, the University Student Court has ruled that the UPB is not a part of Student Association, so what benefit is gained by having the Student Association Senate express their opinion? And while Mr. Bahr in the Q&A session expressed that it was not the intention of the legislation to ban advisors, checking of e-mail or Facebook, other standard uses of the office, enforcement of this policy would not fall to him, but to the UPB, of which he is not a member. This matter passed the Senate and we will see if the UPB chooses to do anything about it.

Conclusion
Overall, procedures were followed (maybe not the correct ones in all cases, but at least they were documented), and the usual pile of legislation got through. But the fact that a new loophole has been created and exploited is ugly, and needs to be dealt with.

Senate Agenda for November 12, with commentary

I have now linked to the Student Association Senate agenda for their November 12 meeting. I would like to point out a few items worthy of commentary.

Executive Order 0607-001
The action line of this Executive Order is a cut-and-paste from the Financial Accountability Act of 2006:

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Student Association order the President to use any and all private funds to ensure that we effectively address the constitutional crisis that our government has faced in the past weeks and to seek the necessary legal counsel to ensure that the right of UW-M students to govern themselves without administrative tampering is protected.

As such, I see this as an attempt to get authorization for legal counsel before another walkout takes place. By placing this as an Executive Order, it is now scheduled under "Special Orders" and therefore before normal legislation, even though it reads like legislation and has the exact same line as legislation already scheduled under Old Business.

The problem is that the power to issue Executive Orders is specifically granted to the SA President under the Executive Bylaws, Article II Section 1j. As such, the Senate has no known power to act on it. While there may be a desire to create separate legislation to get the authorization for using the Private Account to obtain legal counsel and also a desire to get it past the roadblock created by the Separation of Powers Act, these are matters that should go before Senators, and the Senate should not be railroaded into dealing with it early by disguising the matter as an Executive Order.

Committee Publicity Act
This is a nice sounding way of getting information to students so they can participate in student government. This goal is noble and I have no objections to it.

I do, however, have a concern with the details. It directs "that those serving as chair of a committee compile/create an informational handout outlining their committee, the committee’s intention, and overall goals" and that each week, one such underrepresented committee be highlighted using the information provided. But not all of the committees upon which a student can serve as part of shared governance are chaired by students. Some, such as the Academic Policy Committee, are faculty run with student input. Clearly the Student Senate has no power to order a faculty chair to provide them with informational pamphlets. So the idea sounds great but cannot meet its stated goal.

Constituent Services Forum Act
The idea of this strange-sounding legislation is simple enough: The Legislative Affairs Director, for reasons that have yet to be explained, would be charged with setting up a listening session every month to hear from the students. But as I pointed out in September, writing legislation mandating these forums is no guarantee that they will happen. Such forums were to have taken place last year, and nothing came of them. I don't see how a new one, with such a pretentious-sounding title as "Constituent Services Forum", is likely to fare any better.

Student Association Newsletter Act
Again, good on ideas, but still questionable in substance. It would direct the Communications Director to produce a newsletter to highlight the accomplishments of Student Association each month. This is nice in theory, but what would a newsletter of the past month state? "This month, Student Association's office was cleared of documents as part of a criminal investigation of its Speaker and former President . . ." Also, while it may direct the Communications Director to publish the newsletter, details about how it is supposed to be delivered and what line item of the budget is supposed to pay for it remain to be seen.

Support for Responsible Consumption of Alcohol on Campus
This would allow the Director of School Spirit and Campus Activities [personal note: Why do we need this as a Director-level position?] to organize an alcohol prevention and awareness campaign. Again, no mention of where the money is coming from or what about this campaign would be different from all the other similar campaigns that are going on.

Resolution to Support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Community on Campus
This would direct the LGBTQ Director to hold a forum where "students, faculty, and staff will be able to discuss the [marriage] amendment, their feelings surrounding it, and the impact the amendment will have on their lives." I recognize that many students on this campus have strong feelings about this amendment, and I can certainly empathize with the shock they must be feeling that their opinions were not shared by a majority of voters. But is the answer a forum that merely gives them a chance to vent? I can't really answer that question, but it seems a bit weak as a response to me.

Registered Student Organization Rights Act of 2006
I know certain people are really wanting my opinion on this item, and they have probably scrolled down to this section just to see what I have to say. For them, I am copying the entire text of this act here:

Registered Student Organization Rights Act of 2006

Author(s) Sen. Stueber, Sen. Bahr
Sponsors: Sen. Huibregtsee, Sen. Lesky, Sen Scott
Whereas, the resources available to Registered Student Organizations are significantly limited
Whereas, it is necessary for existing Registered Student Organization’s to maximize efficiency and to use the resources allocated to them in a manner that best serves current students.
Whereas, office space in the union is limited and should be maximized for current UW-M students.
Be is resolved that the SA Senate by majority vote recommend(s) to the Union Policy Board that it change its policy in the Student Organization manual (page 7, paragraph 1)
From:
“Student Organizations may include faculty, staff or individuals from the community as members, but they do not serve as officers or have a controlling interest in the organization.”
To:
“Student Organizations may only include current registered students as accredited members. Faculty, staff or members of the community may participate in Student Organization activities with out a controlling interest in the organization, but are not entitled to the resources allocated by Student Association that have been allocated with students’ segregated fees. Further, the offices allocated in the union are intended for administrative purposes only.”

I will begin with the title. What in this act provides any rights to a student organization? Isn't this a way to take some of the larger organizations who provide valuable service to the community and depress their perceived standing by limiting their membership to student members? There are already certain student governmental bodies who look at student membership only, so any reputable student organization will have the numbers already broken into student versus non-student membership. I don't see any rights asserted or granted by this act.

Now to the justifications. The act claims that "the resources available to Registered Student Organizations are significantly limited". I would be a fool to believe they were totally unlimited, but student organization resources are "significantly" limited primarily to the extent that they are being used by the Student Association itself and not being passed onto other organizations. Every student pays hundreds of dollars in segregated fees specifically to run student events and organizations. How does a $9 million budget not provide for the needs of student organizations unless most of it is absorbed before it gets there?

The act further states that "it is necessary for existing Registered Student Organization’s to maximize efficiency and to use the resources allocated to them in a manner that best serves current students." I would agree with this statement, but I would insist that Student Association also live up to this mandate. The previously released financial records show large payments for executive and speaker salaries, and large budgeted items such as printing and travel that can be open to abuse. Furthermore, one of the items of Old Business is an act that would reset the Presidential salary to $10,000 from the original $9,000. The Student Association Senate and Executive branches need to lead by example and prove that their financial house is in order before they start ordering around other organizations in the name of granting them "rights".

And just when you thought that the hubris couldn't get any worse, then the act claims "office space in the union is limited and should be maximized for current UW-M students." The Union Director, in an attempt to create more Registered Student Organization (RSO) space, released the area where the old Union Outing Center was for RSO use, but after the move by the Post into that space, and the move by Student Assocation into the Post's old space, SA didn't release its old space for other organizations, instead converting it into an Organizational Programming Center, which sees little to no use. Releasing that space, which has a central "lobby" area with six adjoining offices, would have allowed space for several RSOs to receive the space they need to maximize their efforts for current students. Also, if there is such a premium on office space, why is Robert Stueber, chair of the Union Policy Board and an author of this act, advertising in the Union 3rd Floor that there is office space available?

I mentioned the proposed solution to these self-created problems before, but there are more things that need to be said about it. Again, for the record, the idea is to ask the Union Policy Board to change its policy in the Student Organization Manual to read:

“Student Organizations may only include current registered students as accredited members. Faculty, staff or members of the community may participate in Student Organization activities with out a controlling interest in the organization, but are not entitled to the resources allocated by Student Association that have been allocated with students’ segregated fees. Further, the offices allocated in the union are intended for administrative purposes only.”

First, the item to be changed is part of the Student Organization Manual, published by the Student Activities Office, which is an arm of the University's Office of Student Life and is not part of the Union Policy Board. Second, what do the authors of this act mean by "accredited members"? Third, what does it mean that non-students are not entitled to the resources allocated by the Student Association that have been purchased with segregated fees? These things need to be spelled out.

The last sentence is something that needs to be addressed on its own. "Further, the offices allocated in the union are intended for administrative purposes only.” It has always been the policy that Union office space is to be used for the work of the club who has it, but the definition of "the work of the club" varies depending on the club involved. Would the Chess Club be prohibited from monitoring high-level chess tournaments from their office? Would Peer Health Advocates have to find a new office from which to conduct counseling sessions? These activities fall under the "work of the club" but are not necessarily "administrative purposes". This definition is too vague to mean anything important.

Diversity Restoration Act
This would create a diversity forum each semester to promote awareness and express the need for diversity on campus. It would also create a Diversity Committee composed of minority Senators and majority non-Senator students to aid in the purposes of the act. Again, this sounds nice, but how can we be sure this will do anything useful?

Student Association Senators Right to Serve Act
And as usual, bringing up the rear, is the latest attempt to weasel out of the Bylaws hole they are in:

Student Asspciation Senators Right to Serve Act
Authors: Senator Bahr, Senator Scott
Sponsors: Senator Draheim, Senator Grotz, Senator Decker, Senator Magar, Senator Huibretsge, Senator Nesgoda, Senator Pfeifer, Senator Kopczyk, Senator Malke

WHEREAS, democratically elected Student Association Senators have a right to serve in the Student Association Senate.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Student Association Senate Bylaws be amended to ensure that right by removing the following passages: Article VII, Section 1, sub-sections (f)(g)

The pretense of a more sweeping cleanup is removed in favor if a more direct approach. Personally, I don't have a problem with democratically elected senators serving in the Senate -- as long as they aren't compromising their position by being in multiple branches of government. Having made the choice to earn money at this, I have no problem saying that they have chosen to give up their Senate seat as well.

This will certainly be an interesting meeting, especially if the issues raised here reach the Senate floor.

Fireworks at SA Senate meeting

Well, there are still some things left to be discovered, but the lack of Russ Rueden at the Student Assoication Senate meeting was apparent.

To begin with, there was an actual call for a no-confidence vote against Russ Rueden. It made it to a vote, but failed. (That isn't surprising, since it takes a 2/3 vote to pass.)

There was an actual appointment made to the Student Court as well. This makes it so that there are enough justices (barring a resignation) for the Court to actually do things. No word yet on if Drew Baryenbruch's issue will be taken up as a result.

There was a call to add an annual audit requirement to the Senate bylaws. I'm not sure what happened with that, I will post what did happen when I get reliable information on that.

The big fireworks came over a proposed revision to the Senate Bylaws that would have removed the prohibition of Senators holding executive or judicial positions (transcribed exactly from the Agenda, except that I am using full names are given for all authors and sponsors):

2006 SA Senate Bylaw Revision

Author: Senator Daniel Bahr, Senator Russel Scott

Sponsors: Speaker Amanda Voigtlander, Senator Tyler Draheim, Senator Brandon Decker, Senator Caleb Kopczyk, Senator Tobin Huibretsge, Senator Zachary Nesgoda, Senator Nikki Pfeifer

WHERAS, nearly half of the SA Senate could be unseated as a result of the aforementioned action not being taken.

WHERAS, past efforts to separate the branches have been unsuccessful and have lead to the vacancy of up to eighteen seats on the SA Senate.

WHERAS, those most willing to volunteer their time in the legislative branch would be disenfranchised from prospective employment in the executive branch with out the aformentioned action being taken.

WHERAS, current SA executive branch members who have already planned on serving in both branches woule be denied their understood right to do so.

WHERAS, separation of the branches at this time would lead to a denial of due process on behalf Senate member who currently serve in both branches.

WHERAS, the Student Association amended the Executive Bylaws on July 25th, 2006.

WHEREAS, there is a need for the legislative language to be consistent in order to prevent any misinterpretation of the bylaws.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Student Association Senate Bylaws be amended by striking out the following passages: Article VII, Section 1, sub-sections (f)(g).

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Association Senate Bylaws be further amended by striking the following passages: Article III, Section (b) "second";
Article III, Section (b) "in September".

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Student Association Senate Bylaws be amended by adding the following passage to Article III, Section (e): ", and the Speaker approves."

The first change would remove the passages in the Senate Bylaws that contradict the Executive Bylaws. Here is the sentence from which the wording of the second change is to be struck: "The Freshmen Senators shall be filled with this same process and occur at the second senate meeting in September." The change would make it, "The Freshmen Senators shall be filled with this same process and occur at the senate meeting." Neither makes any sense, even in context, but the change was supposed to allow Freshmen Senators to be appointed at any meeting, not just the one mandated.
And the final change would require that the Speaker approve the filling of a seat by the nomination process.

After much debate, this didn't get the 2/3 vote needed to enact a bylaw change. This led to the next item up for debate:

Separation of Powers Act
Author: Senator Antwan Jones

Sponsors: Papa-Kwesi Coleman

Supporters: Carlo Albano, Nina Vandenhounter, Chris Larson

WHEREAS: a number of student representatives in the Student Association currently hold positions in both the Student Senate and the Presidential Cabinet; and

WHEREAS: the Senate Bylaws in Article VII, Section 1-f state, "Senators may not concurrently serve as a member of the Presidential Cabinet or as a Student Court Justice; and

WHEREAS: the Senate Bylaws take precedence over all other SA bylaws under the SA Constitution Article VII; and

WHEREAS: the protection of the separation of powers in the Student Association is vital to the integrity of the Student Association; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED THAT: all SA Representatives holding positions in both the Student Senate and the Presidential Cabinet must resign from one of the two posts within 5 business days.

This was the act that the previous bylaw change was supposed to circumvent. We at Well Armed Sheep aren't the only ones pointing out the problem that was lurking in the Senate Bylaws. This led to even more debate, and during a motion to table this indefinitely, three senators (Antwan Jones, Mark Talatzko and Andrew Hable) left in protest. As the senate was barely above quorum before they left, a quorum call was made at this point, and the meeting ended when quorum failed.

Next time, I'll post the full agenda, including the provision that would have put another $1,000.00 into the Presidential salary for the current year.

The next time, they'd better bring a band...

This publication came from Well Armed Sheep.

I went to the UWM Student Senate emergency meeting in the garage. The posting in the Union listed the purpose as "Discussion of Obtaining Legal Counsel". When we arrived, we got a single sheet of paper with the agenda on one side and a proposed piece of student legislation on the other side. Here is the full text of both; I will comment through parts of it, with full explanation afterward:

AGENDA
Student Association Senate
Emergency Meeting October 20, 2006 7:00 p.m.

1) Call to Order/Approval of the Agenda
2) Reports
3) New Business
a. The Financial Accountability Act of 2006
4) Adjournment

The Financial Accountability Act of 2006
(Comments in italics are mine)
Author: Sen. Daniel V. Bahr
Sponsor: Sen. Bahr

WHEREAS, segregated fee expenditures are governed by (UW-System)Financial Administration Policy F20, and

WHEREAS, the Student Association is charged with allocating segregated fees and ensuring that those fees are being spent legitimately, and

WHEREAS, the Student Association is aware of at least one illegitimate transaction that occurred at the direction of Interim Vice Chancellor James Hill between the UWM Student Union and the Department of Athletics totaling over $100,000.00, and

WHEREAS, the policy of the University, as echoed by Chancellor Carlos Santiago, is that an audit of a SUF (Segregated University Fee) department is permissible at any time under F20 and until such time as the audit can be completed the department must cease functioning (See below for explanation of this comment), and

WHEREAS, F20 allows equally for "SUFAC (Segregated University Fee Allocation Committee, appointed by the Student Association) or the Institution" to demand a financial audit, and

WHEREAS, both SUFAC and the Institution are equal in the eyes of policy F20, and

WHEREAS, SUFAC is a subcommittee of the Senate, comprised entirely of Senators, and

WHEREAS, all actions of SUFAC must also be approved by the Senate;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Student Association is requiring a complete financial audit to be conducted on the following entities: UWM Student Union, Norris Health Center, Klotsche Center, Department of Athletics, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Association orders the operatios of these departments must cease immediately in order to comply with the University's interpretation of F20.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Association empower the President to use all practical and logical means to enforce this order, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Student Association order the President to use any and all private funds to ensure that we effectively address the constitutional crisis facing our government.

Events of the last few days
In light of the controversy over the Sandburg Halls Administrative Council's mysterious check to Senate Speaker Russ Rueden's company, as listed in the UWM Post Blog, there have been calls to audit other records stemming from last year's administration (i.e. when Rueden was Student Association President). As part of this investigation, the University has asked for records relating to the "private SA account" from current SA President Samantha Prahl. By this, she is referring to an account that any student organization can have for funds that aren't part of segregated fees, usually through the UW Credit Union.

Prahl is refusing to release these records for fear of setting a precedent that would allow the University to examine this account any time they felt like it. The University's position is that this account is a legitimate part of the audit per the Policy:

If SUF is received for ongoing operations of an organization, the organization must provide financial records of their entire operation, if requested by the SUFAC or the Institution. An organization's failure to comply with a request for financial information may result in the denial of SUF support and/or use of University facilities.

--UW System Financial Administration Policy F20, Section II.

Therefore, since Ms. Prahl refused to release the records for the "private account", the University invoked the "failure to comply" clause and
denied Student Association the use of its University office.

This proposed legislation is an attempt to respond in kind. If failure to respond to all of an auditing agency's requests is enough to order their denial of University space, then the Student Association can do the same thing by demanding that other organizations submit to an audit. This, however, is flawed on the following grounds:

1) The policy states that the SUFAC can request the financial records, not the Senate that appoints them. While actions of the SUFAC may be subject to Senate approval, there has been no meeting by the SUFAC itself to request this audit.

2) The wording of the policy does seem to favor the University position. It does state the organization "must provide financial records of their entire operation" if requested. The fact that some of these records are not of segregated fees does not seem to be an issue.

3) This move appears to be one of retailation, not of legitimate concern. The alleged illegal transaction is one that has been a part of student government here for years. Back in 2002, money was taken from the Union budget (which makes money from its dining services) and moved to the athletic budget with the full support of the student government at the time. (They even used these payments to demonstrate their commitment to athletics on campus.) Samantha Prahl's claim is that these transfer payments continued without student approval in subsequent years. While I have found no votes to authorize this continued use of funds, neither have I found any votes to disallow it either. Anyone with information one way or the other on this is encouraged to share it with me.

It seems to me that the Student Association is taking an open secret (Union funds being used for athletics) and using this as a pretext to close the entire school. Even so, the question of whether other student organizations on campus are similarly shut down remains. Stay tuned for more details.