NEWS
UW students petition Wiley
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Nick Penzenstadler:
- Cartoon attacks David Horowitz (May 6, 2008)
- Organization confident 'Sex Toys 101' will go on (May 1, 2008)
- Law School shuts down 'Sex Toys 101' talk (April 30, 2008)
- McCain drives economic line (April 17, 2008)
- McCain stopping in state today (April 16, 2008)
Related Stories:
- Students challenge System policy (December 14, 2006)
- ASM insistent on rent debate (April 24, 2007)
- Fight for off-campus rent resumes (January 23, 2007)
- ASM: budgets left up to Wiley (April 18, 2006)
Share This:
by Nick Penzenstadler
Friday, December 8, 2006
Flexing their democratic dexterity Thursday at Library Mall, a coalition of students collected nearly 400 signatures for a petition against University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley's policy concerning off-campus student organizations.
The Student Rights Coalition, formed just two weeks ago, is seeking to overturn the University of Wisconsin's administrative interpretation of a UW System policy regarding student-segregated fee funding for the 2007-08 budget cycle.
Wiley issued a memo Nov. 16 citing a UW System policy prohibiting registered student organizations from receiving funding for off-campus rent. SRC is comprised of representatives from a majority of the groups affected by the policy, some Student Services Finance Committee members and other student organizations that receive student-segregated fees.
In addition to the petition, SRC formed a Facebook group to garner student support for their cause. The group's profile has an image of Chancellor Wiley driving a semi-truck taking away boxes labeled with the names of organizations that lost funding for off-campus rent.
In an interview with The Badger Herald, Wiley said students were warned about the possibility of losing their rent funding well before he sent the memo. The groups were all part of a one-year exemption to UW System policy for off-campus rent, Wiley said, which expired this year.
According to UW spokesperson John Lucas, the university has done its part to communicate with student organizations that have off-campus offices.
"I think it's been relayed in a variety of ways for a year or two now, and has been crystal clear that it could be taken away," Lucas said.
SRC member Alex Gallagher said university policy also states students have the right to negotiate with the chancellor for all segregated fees.
Gallagher, also an SSFC representative, said UW did not give sufficient legal reasons for the denial of funding for the two years prior to the latest developments.
"Just the fact that they told us this a year ahead of time doesn't give them the right to usurp our power to decide where this money should be allocated," Gallagher said.
Gina Bower, chair of Promoting Awareness and Victim Empowerment, said their group is located off-campus and will lose its funding for rent.
Despite the advanced warning, groups also face the difficulty of finding office space located on-campus, according to Bower.
"It is a fair statement that we were given notice, and we knew this was coming," Bower said. "[But] we've tried to contact people to find space, and we were not able to find any."
According to Gallagher, the petition will be delivered to the Associated Students of Madison Student Council Dec. 13, and he said he hopes the council will reinstate the budgets for groups with off-campus rent.
According to Lucas, the UW administration is scheduled to discuss the rent issue next week.
Lucas added that the Student Activity Center — now being built where University Square formerly stood — is in the works and will provide more student space for student organizations in the future. The Student Activity Center is scheduled to be completed by fall 2009.
Anonymous (December 8, 2006 @ 2:13pm):
this group has no clue what it's doing...
