Proposed segregated fee changes draw criticism
Madison student group says UW System is curbing student power, UWEC Student Senate president disagrees
Nathaniel Shuda
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Campus News
All UW System chancellors received copies Monday of a proposed segregated fees policy that could alter what student organizations can and cannot do with state funds.
A committee of System administrators and students met Nov. 7 to discuss minor changes to the System's current policies regarding the use of student segregated fees and to condense the two current policies into one document, said UW-Eau Claire Student Senate President Ray French, a member of the committee.
A group of UW-Madison students attended the meeting in opposition to the consolidated policy. But French said the committee was only voting in favor of sending the policy to schools for comment, and he doesn't think the proposal restricts the student voice.
"We're not going to lose the ability to distribute student fees," he said. "All that's happening is we're revising the policies used to distribute them."
Associated Students of Madison, the university's student governing body, organized the protest as part of its Student Rights Campaign and is opposed to the changes, which it believes would make the policy "less student-friendly," Madison junior Rachel Butler, the campaign's chairwoman, said.
"The point is that here we've got a potential policy that would take away students' power," Butler said.
French said the policy would not take away Senate's power to allocate the fees, but rather put limitations on what organizations can spend their allocation on, including the hiring of staff members not affiliated with the university and renting for off-campus facilities.
French said the policy would not affect Eau Claire students because no organizations fall under the policies changes. Only a handful of the System's 26 institutions, including Madison, have organizations that could be affected, so French said he wouldn't call any changes to the current policy a "monumental" one.
"That doesn't mean it won't affect other campuses in the future," Butler said. "That doesn't mean every campus has to, it just means they have the opportunity."
A committee of System administrators and students met Nov. 7 to discuss minor changes to the System's current policies regarding the use of student segregated fees and to condense the two current policies into one document, said UW-Eau Claire Student Senate President Ray French, a member of the committee.
A group of UW-Madison students attended the meeting in opposition to the consolidated policy. But French said the committee was only voting in favor of sending the policy to schools for comment, and he doesn't think the proposal restricts the student voice.
"We're not going to lose the ability to distribute student fees," he said. "All that's happening is we're revising the policies used to distribute them."
Associated Students of Madison, the university's student governing body, organized the protest as part of its Student Rights Campaign and is opposed to the changes, which it believes would make the policy "less student-friendly," Madison junior Rachel Butler, the campaign's chairwoman, said.
"The point is that here we've got a potential policy that would take away students' power," Butler said.
French said the policy would not take away Senate's power to allocate the fees, but rather put limitations on what organizations can spend their allocation on, including the hiring of staff members not affiliated with the university and renting for off-campus facilities.
French said the policy would not affect Eau Claire students because no organizations fall under the policies changes. Only a handful of the System's 26 institutions, including Madison, have organizations that could be affected, so French said he wouldn't call any changes to the current policy a "monumental" one.
"That doesn't mean it won't affect other campuses in the future," Butler said. "That doesn't mean every campus has to, it just means they have the opportunity."
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