"We're going to keep running into this. We're just going around in a circle."

Rich Givens, policy board member, on extending appeals

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Union Policy Board is extending its office allocation appeals process by one week following its latest meeting on Monday, April 30.

The decision was made by the board following a decision to switch the student organizations that would be in Union, Room 377 with the ones who would be in Union, Room 388.

The Pre-Law Society, the Chess Club at UWM and the Adult Student Alliance were all slated to be in 377, while the Cream City Medical Society and Gamma Phi Beta sorority were going to be in 388.

Russell Scott, who is a member of the Union Policy Board (UPB) as well as the three organizations that were reassigned to Union 388, said that his groups wouldn't fit in the newly assigned room.

"These moves are just putting a burden on pre-existing problems," Scott said.

Office space on the Union's third floor is limited, and as a result, most student organizations will be sharing office space with at least one other group next year.

Few organizations appealed due to having to share office space, but one that did was the Strategic Gaming Club (SGC). Representatives from the Strategic Gaming Club were on hand to protest the possibility of having to share Union, Room 372 with Omega Delta Phi fraternity.

Strategic Gaming Club member Lilith Buckner called the SGC "one of the top three most active student orgs" and member Dominick Reisland said the SGC had a lot of games that needed to be stored and accessed in their office.

UPB Allocation Chair Samantha Prahl questioned whether or not the SGC, which would have been the only organization besides The Leader to have its own office on the third floor, truly fit the UPBs criteria for having a solo office.

"There are other student orgs with more members who have been able to share office space," Prahl said.

Some board members questioned the idea of extending the appeals process. Though the decision to hold one more appeal hearing passed, board member Rich Givens expressed concern over letting the appeals process drag on for too long.

"We're going to keep running into this," Givens said about the possibility of more dissatisfied student organizations making further appeals. "We're just going around in a circle."

According to the original timeline set up by the UPB in February, final office allocation appeals were to be heard on Wednesday, April 12.

That meeting was cancelled by a snowstorm, and was rescheduled for Monday, April 23. That meeting did not take place due to lack of quorum.

The next meeting was planned to be held Monday, May 7.

> Comments