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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
- The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
- The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
- The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
- Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
- Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)
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This editorial is the second in a two-part series outlining the need for an additional student regent.
As we have previously written, to more effectively serve University of Wisconsin students — and the UW System as a whole — the Board of Regents should add another student regent to its 17-member board. However, we also find it imperative that at least one out of the two student regents should come from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison serves as the flagship school for the entire UW System. It is the quality of education at Madison that holds the most influence over lawmakers and alums and is most responsible for either helping or hurting the reputation of Wisconsin’s higher education system nationwide. UW-Madison receives the largest amount of resources poured into any of the 26 campuses composing the UW system. Whether it be in terms of research dollars, professor salaries, the size of the student body or enrollment of the best students from Wisconsin and nationally, UW-Madison is the most important higher-education institution in the state.
The quality of education students receive at UW-Madison reflects on all the other four-year and two-year schools across Wisconsin, not the other way around. Therefore, it is necessary that one student regent from UW-Madison serve on the board at all times to highlight the importance and the special needs of Wisconsin’s flagship university.
In addition, it is simply easier logistically to have a student regent from Madison. Seeing as the majority of regent meetings and business takes place here, at least one student representative attending UW-Madison makes sense because of location.
Although it certainly remains important that all the sectors of the UW System and all the students enrolled within it are aptly represented on the Board of Regents, priorities in terms of student representation must be made. The need for a consistent student voice from UW-Madison is obvious. But more than anything else, that need reflects on the underlying necessity of adding a second student regent to the board. Only by providing two student voices on the Board of Regents can UW-Madison — and all or Wisconsin’s higher-education institutions — be properly represented and protected by the decision-making body most responsible for shaping the fate of students in the state and the state of education.
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Isn't this the exact same editorial you wrote last year on the subject?
"We're Madison! We're important! Our parents are paying good money for our education and that makes us special!"
Please.
Quite possibly the most pompous editorial piece I've read in my 20 years at this university.
To the above poster. How about the fact that Madison is one of the top three (depending on the year) research schools in the nation, that do anything for you?
"How about the fact that Madison is one of the top three (depending on the year) research schools in the nation, that do anything for you?"
Not really. If anything, it says there should be a member of the faculty on the Board of Regents.
Again, what makes the Abercrombie-wearing, vodka-chugging, Chicago trust-fund-baby set at Madison so goddamned special?
what about the offbrand-wearing, has-to-work-just-to-eat, inner-city-Milwaukee-baby? Why shouldn't their interests be served by the Board of Regents, who, after all, ultimately make all the important decisions affecting said baby's education? And how will a group of 65 year old corporate leaders know what is in the best interest of someone from a group that they wouldn't associate themselves with, other than to put students on the board and in various advisory positions?
Poster 2 has it right. Most pompous. Editorial. Ever.
Apparently Beth Richlen isn't enough for you. She is a Madison student. Is it the fact that she has an undergrad at a different UW univeristy that bugs you? I think Madison ASM has shown how incapable Madison students are at representing themselves. I'd be careful what you wish for.
I am slightly concerned with this viewpoint, yet is sparks good debate on the issue of a second student regent coming from Madison. My main concern is this; the push to get a second regent approved by the legislature is difficult enough, but to have the stipulation be placed on it that they student regent come from only Madison appears to perpetuate an isolation of UW-Madison from the rest of the University System. Under the current policy, the next student regent that is approved is not allowed to come from any campus the current regent attended. There is certainly a rational for this, there are different perspectives and difficulties that arise from different areas of the state, and these difficulties do not always permiate to Madison.
As for research, it is true that Madison has its fair share of grants and has helped to make wonderful advances in many areas. However, other UW's are also working on projects, for example the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point science department is currently working on research in conjunction with NASA. Although the population of these schools will never rival that of Madison, collectively they are progressive campuses that should not go unrecognised.
Perhaps instead of debating if the student regent should be from a particular campus, the discussion should focus on if the student should be non-traditional, or represent minority groups within the system.
I certainly agree that more student regents is better, but UW-Madison does not need to be guaranteed a regent. If there are only two student regents and one is from Madison, that equates Madison with all of the other UW sytem schools combined. Maybe we would be better off breaking it into regions (geographically so that the system is divided into two groups of schools with equal combined enrollments. Even better, I think there should be a student regent for every UW-system School. Mark Luehring, UWSP Student