One day, the University of Wisconsin may eliminate segregated fees. Pigs will be flying past your window. Hell will be freshly coated with frost. But the day may come. Do not give up hope.
Until that long-awaited day arrives, though, students need to do what they can to improve their current student government. Admittedly, it's a leaking, rotting, barnacle-laden barge of a vessel that most would rather ignore. But it's worth paying attention to. Don't forget: the good ship ASM has a treasure chest of more than $20 million of student money in its hold. That's right — and some of it is yours.
We can change course by starting with something easy. Posting the full details online of how all segregated-fee money is spent — down to the last doubloon — would be a simple way to raise awareness and prevent abuse of student fees. Full public disclosure of all fee-budget details on the web is such a straightforward idea, it is hard to believe the crew over at ASM has not implemented it already. Then again, maybe it's not.
Most students would rather do anything during their four years on campus than piddle away hours and effort in student government. Haggling with the Campus Women's Center over how many dental dams to purchase and deciding whether or not to pay for the Multicultural Barbeque are activities reserved for only a handful of souls who are necessarily greedy, foolish, brave or suicidal. In an environment with little institutional memory, the result is a cliquish student government that operates largely away from public scrutiny. Political plants grow best in the shade, as John Adams noted, and ASM is no exception. It thrives in the dark corner, fertilized by student apathy. Indeed, ASM's fee allocations have grown every year for the past five years.
Putting every last detail of student-fee expenditures at the fingertips of students would help to stunt the segregated-fee bonanza. It would enhance self-government. A student with difficult courses, a job, an internship or a social life could keep better tabs on spending by his government without sacrificing his dignity, time and first-born child to serve in ASM.
Importantly, supporting this basic reform does not require one to seek an end to segregated fees as we know them. If ASM and student organizations truly have worthwhile programs — if they have nothing to hide — resistance to greater transparency should be nonexistent. Any proponent of the measure must realize, however, that change in general student attitudes might result.
Perhaps a comprehensive online directory of student fees expenditures would finally ignite some widespread outrage over the excesses of the current fee system. Granted, students would still have to A.) figure out that ASM exists; B.) penetrate the labyrinth of acronyms to figure out what the heck is really going on; and C.) actually care. Taking this proactive step for more open governance is a feasible way to facilitate more student engagement.
We should know the details of every expenditure by our student government. Sure, we know which organizations receive segregated fee funding, but that usually isn't the whole story. Without doing an open records request, do we know that the Multicultural Student Coalition is flying a handful of its members to a conference in Florida on the student dime? Are we aware that some of our peers are being paid more than $5,000 annually for being in student organizations? Are most students cognizant of the fact that some environmental student groups funnel segregated-fee dollars to national organizations? Having full online disclosure of these and other facts is essential to creating an informed populace and pressuring student government toward greater accountability to all students — especially the 80 percent that don't participate in student elections. It's a baby step, ASM. Take it.
Publishing budget details online also promises to spur further reform. When John Q. Student stumbles across a link to the University Health Services budget and finds out that he has paid over $100 each year to UHS and only received two flu shots in four years to show for it, he might do something about it. He might wonder why there isn't a good health rebate and push for one. Another student, after perusing the budgets online, might notice that UHS, the Campus Women's Center and the LGBT Campus Center all provide fee-funded condoms. She might seek to eliminate the wasteful overlap. Transparency could easily spark additional positive change.
Change is essential to keeping this rickety ASM rowboat of state afloat. Fixing the hull we have is essential, since obtaining a new ship altogether — a different fee system — seems unlikely in the near future. Posting all budgetary information related to segregated fee budgets — itemized group requests, finalized allocations and past budgets — is a good first step towards a keel-haul of our student government, one that will get the leaks above the waterline so that they might be fixed.
You're a part owner of the student-funded cargo onboard. That's your "free" birth control down there in the bilge, your Michael Moore visit and your sex-toy party. Demand that the hatches be opened so you can throw the damaged goods overboard.
Brad Vogel ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.
