Students in the University of Wisconsin System do not have enough control over their education, State Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Grand Rapids, says. And that is why Schneider has proposed a "student bill of rights," which was introduced into the Wisconsin Legislature and is awaiting committee consideration.
The bill comes in the form of 14 points, each aimed at giving students more influence during their time at UW System schools.
"I would like this to help students and parents in having some rights in dealing with the power of the university, which they basically do not have now — all the power rests on one side," Schneider said. "The bill tries to address a variety of issues that I think are important to students and parents and to people in the state."
The provisions of the bill range from limiting the number of hours medical interns can work in a single day to setting a maximum weight restriction for required textbooks used by students.
However, his sentiment about student rights has been met with some criticism, Schneider admitted — criticism which he said he takes seriously.
"There was some hate mail I got early on from a couple of smart alecks at [UW-Madison]," Schneider said, adding he also has received criticism from the UW-Eau Claire Student Government Association.
There are a few main points of contention stemming from this bill, Schneider said. One comes from the provision which states a faculty member who gives a student bad advice can lose tenure or be docked six months' pay if the faulty advice results in the student having to delay graduation.
Though the stipulation was meant to improve the guidance given to students by their advisors, Schneider said after considering feedback he has received about the right, he will modify it so it better suits the UW system.
Schneider said the legislation is not intended to "pick on" the university system, but added when he brought the issues in the student bill of rights proposal to the UW Board of Regents a few years ago, it was not well received by the regents.
"I had given all these ideas to the university system and asked the regents to look at them, and university central administration just told me to go screw myself," Schneider said. "They couldn't find a single item in that proposal they thought had any merit whatsoever."
Margaret Lewis, associate vice president for UW relations, said the Board of Regents does not support the bill, partially because of redundancies in it.
"It was primarily because many of the aspects of the bill were already addressed by different campuses," Lewis said. "And there were a number of things that were more appropriately determined by the faculty [at each school]."
The legislation also states students should not be required to purchase texts written by the professor of a class, a point which Lewis said the regents disagreed with.
"Generally those decisions are made by faculty," Lewis said, also noting the limit on text book weight was also met with disapproval by the board. "I think the board felt books should be assigned on basis of the content, as opposed to weight."
Another part of the bill Schneider said he has gotten flack for is a provision which would ban parking restrictions for the first and last weeks of each semester to ease move-in and move-out times for students and parents.
"[Critics] raised the issue that a blanket exemption, as my bill calls for, means that people could theoretically park in handicapped spaces or block fire entrances," Schneider said. "That's a legitimate criticism and could be tweaked."
Despite this, Schneider said he has also received letters of support from students and parents backing the legislation.
And he said he welcomes any input on the student bill of rights, especially from students — as long as it is constructive.
"This is not written in stone, and it is not perfect," Schneider said. "There have been some good constructive criticisms, and that's been helpful."
