The Associated Students of Madison Student Council met Wednesday night to discuss instructional contingency plans for extreme winter weather and how a university policy change will affect student-shared governance.
The University of Wisconsin removed funding for the Shared Governance Project Assistant position, originally granted as a symbol of support for ASM, according to SAC Governing Board Chair Kevin Jacobson.
“All of the other shared governance bodies have central funding for secretaries [and additional staff] … without this position, we would still function in the way of shared governance, but it really is kind of like they’re not being supportive of it anymore, at least from a student perspective, because this is the only central campus support that we get for shared governance,” Jacobson said.
According to Jacobson, the removal of funding without any explanation to the council effectively revoked that support.
The council referred the discussion to the next ASM meeting.
Grant Allocation Committee discusses event funding, travel grants for campus RSOs
The council also discussed a proposal including legislation that would require all UW faculty and staff to create and provide students contingency plans for instruction in case of severe weather conditions. This would prioritize the safety and academic success of all students, according to the proposal.
“What this legislation is trying to do is empower instructors to continue class, but to do so in a safe manner,” Representative Shia Fisher said.
The council discussed the advances in virtual education technology since the COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages of providing students with notice of class cancellations and whether the decision for in-person class should be made by individual professors or the administration.
Equity & Inclusion Chair Emmett Lockwood shared that a lot of the paratransit used to access campus needs prior notice to cancel or reschedule a trip and that the inclusion of contingency plans would allow students to better prepare for winter weather.
Representative Ethan Dickler expressed concerns that a mandate to develop a contingency plan would increase the workload of TAs, rather than professors or the administration.
The council voted to table this legislation until the next student council meeting.
The ASM student council will meet again on March 22.
