Student government members weighed possibilities for increased student involvement in the new governing body under the proposed public authority model and the future of financial aid for students in a meeting Monday.

The Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs representatives considered the newly unveiled state budget plan and how students could most effectively play a role on the new governing board.

Vice Chair Sam Seering said the new Board of Trustees would consist of 21 members, 11 of whom would be chosen by the governor. Seven of those appointed would be UW alumni, with nine others demonstrating a commitment to the university and one student representative.

Committee member Zach Ivins brought up the possibility of adding a second student representative to the Board of Trustees to increase the student presence on the governing board.

Seering said an additional student was one of the amendments ASM is currently seeking for Chapter 37, the statute that governs the current University of Wisconsin System.

“In the spirit of shared governance, we should all be equal in our representation,” Seering said. “Our chances would probably be strong if we went about getting that extra seat the right way.” 

Seering and committee member Beth Huang both said they were in favor of the proposed changes
to the statute, but the issues of student representation on the board and
financial aid availability will still need to be more closely
addressed.

Huang said she was concerned about the availability of financial aid in the wake of major budget cuts from the state.

Huang added Chancellor Biddy Martin has said she will make efforts to preserve financial aid but she has not detailed specific initiatives for the immediate future.

“If we have the chance to restructure things, whether for better or for worse, we should take this chance to make them better,” Huang said.

Seering said he had been busy digesting the contents of Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget proposal for the past week.

He said the budget presents fairly large cuts to the UW System, specifically $250 million over the next two years. He added half of the cuts would affect UW alone.

Seering also added the UW System is working on drafting a new Chapter 37, which would establish UW as a public authority separate from the rest of the UW System.

A statute change to Chapter 37 would establish a Board of Trustees as the governing body of UW, Seering said.

During the meeting, Vice President of City Affairs Hannah Somers also said there will be an Alcohol License Review Committee meeting to revisit the Alcohol License Downtown Ordinance on March 16.

Somers said ASM and Legislative Affairs plan to propose three amendments to ALDO before its expiration date in summer 2011.

She added the amendments would include making entertainment-type venues exempt from the alcohol license restrictions, allowing businesses to compete to get additional licenses if necessary and eliminating the capacity limits of the previous bar to tie capacity to the actual building and fire code of the current establishment.