This is a breach of shared governance. This was stuck in at the 11th hour.

The Student Association (SA) Senate held an emergency meeting Monday night to contest an additional cost and finalize their budget for 2007-08.

Last week, SA officials received word of an addition to the budget in the position of SA Adviser, at a cost of $55,000 to students.

The position was not voted on or approved by the Senate Finance Committee and appeared to come as a surprise to association members, as legislation was approved vowing to fight the additional fee.

This is a breach of shared governance. This was stuck in at the 11th hour, said SA President Samantha Prahl. This legislation wont stop it; this is just an appeal, a stance that we dont support this.

As a non-allocable fee, control of the advisory position currently lies with the Administration, and is not a fee that the Senate or the SFC can vote on and approve or deny.

The job description is loosely outlined as assisting the vice chancellor with the segregated fee process. Duties would include surveying students on the quality and use of segregated fee funded units, assisting departments with budget development, and helping to coordinate bylaw revisions. The position is still being developed however, and there is some uncertainty over the exact responsibilities it would have.

It would be irresponsible to give up this money without additional details, Prahl said. We arent opposed to the position, just the way that they (administration) went about it.

Senators also approved the budget as finalized by the SFC at their April 13 meeting, with the SA adviser position being left out of the senate-sponsored budget.

The Womens Resource Center, LGBT Center and Center for Volunteerism and Student Leadership were all funded at their 2006-07 levels, while funding for LINKS was cut by 10 cents per student. The Panther Dance Team remained ineligible for SFC funding.

Stipulations that emphasized employing students over professional staff were also included in many of the center allocations.

The Senate and the administration will forward their versions of the budget to the chancellor, who will then decide on which budget to approve. If the chancellor approves the administrative budget, the SA can then appeal to the UW-System Board of Regents.

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