The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents moved forward Friday with the finalization process of a newly revised set of student misconduct policies.
The new misconduct revisions to Chapters 17 and 18 of University of Wisconsin System Administrative Code states students suspended or expelled from specific academic programs in the UW System would not be allowed to appeal to the Board of Regents.
Students would also not be allowed to have counsel speak on their behalf in disciplinary hearings, and students would be disciplined for serious off-campus offenses.
“That isn’t to say it’s accepted,” said Regent Colleene Thomas, a UW-Madison student. “After they review it in the spring … it goes to the state Legislature. The goal is to have the policies implemented in the fall of 2009.”
The transmittance of the policies to the Legislative Council Friday did not, however, include language that would make UW-Platteville’s campuswide smoking ban punishable under the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
Student Regent Kevin Opgenorth asked to include language to make his campus’ ban enforceable with fines or fees.
“There was interest on the part of Platteville students on whether they could enforce aspects of the ban,” said Board of Regents Vice President Charles Pruitt. “But, the decision was made to not amend Chapters 17 and 18 regarding the smoking ban.”
Changes to the misconduct policies generally apply to the UW System as a whole, but according to Opgenorth, that would not be what he is seeking in the revision.
“I’m a smoker, but I don’t feel I should continue to smoke on campus when a 70/30 margin agreed they didn’t want smoking on campus,” Opgenorth said. “I understand the fears. This is not intended to move every campus to nonsmoking. It’s just allowing us to enforce our ban.”
According to Opgenorth, he asked for the revision to help enforce the ban because Chapters 17 and 18 are seldom reviewed, and it would be quite a while before they could consider this again.
The smoking enforcement issues at UW-Platteville have not been “vetted properly,” which is one of the reasons why the regents decided to make no changes this time around, according to Thomas.
Outside of finalizing possible misconduct revisions, the regents discussed their process of choosing chancellors.
“First, we looked at the mechanics of how we look for chancellors — like background checks. The other related point was what else we could do to encourage officers (within the UW System) to apply for chancellorship,” Pruitt said.
According to Thomas, the regents toured UW-Stevens Point campus with Rebecca Martin, vice president of Student Affairs, who acknowledged the expansion of the UW Connections Program, which involves “funneling students who are academically prepared to be admitted to UW-Madison to begin their work elsewhere.”
The program previously included most technical and two-year colleges in the UW System and now includes UW-Green Bay. In fall 2009 UW-Parkside, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout will also be added.
Along with reappointments of regents to committees, the regents approved budget measures for 2009-11 and approved budget adjustments and construction projects for the UW System.
