Some law school student leaders are trying to decide their own funding priorities by taking control of their portion of student fees, bringing the budget process more in line with other law schools around the nation and away from a student government that is largely controlled by undergraduates.
The Student Bar Association wants to decide its own priorities and be able to freely fund its student programs by combining all of the law groups into one financial account.
It is still in the idea phase, but five law students already have volunteered for an eight- to 10-person committee that will look at combining nearly 20 law student programs into one account.
Student government’s Programs Finance Committee, which recommends to the Senate budgets for individual law school groups, would instead recommend a lump sum of about $50,000 for all the law school groups. The SBA would then distribute the money.
This would eliminate the “groveling for money” that law students face in “the dog and pony show” of asking student government for funding, SBA President Ed Wilson said.
“We don’t want to take money away from any group,” SBA Vice President Marisa Balderas said. “We just want to make the process easier.”
Wilson met with hundreds of fellow SBA presidents at a conference in Chicago this summer and learned that it’s rare to have law school groups’ funds largely controlled by undergraduates, he said.
Undergraduates account for 90 percent of the Student Senate.
ASUO undergraduates, who set law student program budgets, don’t understand the law school’s priorities and schedules, Wilson said.
“Most other law schools have more autonomy in their budgeting and finance, (so) I thought it would be better to adopt a mold that other schools have adopted,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he presented the idea to attendees of the SBA meeting on Thursday – the first of several meetings – and the responses were constructive.
Balderas said the SBA wants a thorough and transparent exploration of the proposal so law school group members can determine whether there is broad-based support. The exploration will be a year-long process, she said.
ASUO President Adam Walsh said he will examine the possibility of making such a change but said that it would take some time and would be a huge task.
“I’m still figuring out if it’s even possible in the first place,” Walsh said, adding that the necessary changes to the constitution would require broad support from the Student Senate, the University president and other concerned parties.
Student Senate President Stephanie Erickson said a similar idea was suggested last year, and law school programs were offended by the attempt to combine all the groups into one account.
“I don’t think it’s a very good idea. I don’t think groups would be happy with that,” Erickson said.
Ben Miller, treasurer of Land Air Water, the nation’s oldest student-run environmental law society, said he is not supportive of the idea at all.
“It’s conflictive and adds another level of bureaucracy” to the budgeting process, he said.
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