Members of the University of Wisconsin’s student government provided insight into a number of current issues central to student life on the UW campus at a meeting Monday.
Members of the Legislative Affairs Committee heard a presentation about how to lobby a Republican legislator in response to recent student government pushes to work with members of both parties against the voter ID bill and the student tenant rights bill.
Dan Posca, an Associated Students of Madison and Student Services Finance Committee representative, spoke on the proper technique of lobbying, specifically in relation to speaking with legislators on the Republican side.
Researching the legislator and the specifics of the legislation is key to a successful lobby, Posca said. He said the extra homework done would impress the legislator and help representatives take the meeting seriously, which can be an issue when students are presenting a cause.
Despite common disagreements when students and legislators do not see eye to eye, Posca said student lobbyists should always remember to keep a respectful demeanor during meetings.
“To be honest, we do not have the best image at the Capitol,” he said. “We need to work on repairing that image so when we go up there, legislators will like to hear from students and will look forward to it.”
Following Posca’s presentation, students on the committee met with Mark Woulf, the city’s alcohol policy coordinator, to debate a proposed nuisance party ordinance that would hold student tenants and the city’s landlords to higher punishments for large and out of control parties.
The bill states if a gathering fits four of nine criteria pertaining to alcohol and noise related violations, it would be deemed a nuisance party, and fines would be issued. Repeated violations would involve alderpersons, and as a last resort, students could face eviction after multiple parties in a six-month span, Woulf said.
Woulf said the purpose of this bill was to not only drive down the size of private house parties, but to also force negligent landlords to be more involved in their properties.
He said landlords and tenants would sit down with the city and come up with a list of expectations to be met after the first violation.
If landlords do not meet these expectations of working with their tenants and a nuisance is reported again, they are subject to fines under the new proposal.
While members of the committee said they liked the general context of what the proposal’s intentions are, they told Woulf the bill would not elicit the kind of response the city is targeting. They said the city should consider alternative avenues to achieve the same goals.
As the meeting came to a close, the committee turned its attention to the Mifflin Street Block Party after meeting with members of the Mifflin Neighborhood Association last week.
The two groups came together to debate how the party could be made a positive experience rather than one the community is worried about after multiple stabbings occurred at last year’s event.
ASM Legislative Affairs Chair Hannah Somers told the committee the group’s work was productive and a representation of many stakeholders’ interests.
ASM Chair Allie Gardner also talked about the UW restructuring that is occurring through a government-sponsored task force committee.
She suggested there be a similar student group that would voice their opinions on the decisions of the official task force.
“We’re seen as simply a source of revenue without having anything to say,” she said.
