I want to start by saying University of Wisconsin is an extremely competent institution. I do appreciate the many educational opportunities and multitude of programming this university provides — not to mention the friends I have made in my four years here. All the same, like any institution, UW has significant shortcomings that must be addressed. 

There are imperative issues like the prevalence of sexual assault on campus coinciding with multiple ongoing federal investigations of UW for their handling of sexual assault cases. It’s on every member of UW to be cognizant about these systemic, alarming issues. Then there are the less pressing concerns, like food preferences and prices in dining halls, that someone may like to improve, but cannot visualize how that is accomplished.

Editorial board: In wake of the Cook case, UW campus must step up to address rampant rape culture

The concept of campus community is certainly ambiguous, but no doubt incorporates the mutual pursuit of learning, respect for individual identities, sense of safety and active communication among members of the university, namely students, faculty, staff and administrators. Each stakeholder plays their irreplaceable role in advancing the mission of university and so their interests must be considered and reflected in decision making.

Students have a right, uniquely enshrined in state law, to shared governance and a free right to organize. Though the actual language was diminished in the last state budget, shared governance, in principle, means students are active participants in the collaboratively-designed university decision making process.

Just as faculty should retain primary control over their research and curriculum, students need some autonomy to shape their campus experience. In practice, there are four shared governance groups — students, faculty, academic staff and university staff — that all have established governance structures to advocate on their behalf.

Because who better to define what students need than students themselves?

Grueling all-nighters at Helen C. White College Library are no thrill, but at least students once advocated for creating that agonizing, though sometimes necessary, 24-hour study space. When 333 East Campus Mall was built, students championed the inclusion of a grocery store that could serve the central campus area, leading to Fresh Market. Whether it is directly apparent or not, previous efforts by students have helped shape the campus around us.

The role for shared governance is simply demonstrated in the recent contention regarding the university planning to upend Red Gym space for an Amazon package pickup location. The strong sentiment against this decision was not recognized by the university because students, faculty, staff and units of the Red Gym were not actively involved in the considerations.

With that spirit in mind, an Associated Students of Madison response and letter from UW’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, among other things, strongly urged reconsideration — and the location consideration was then revoked.

This is why the Red Gym will no longer be the Amazon pick-up location

Decades of shared governance advocacy at UW nets over 200 students on 70+ campus committees that collect stakeholder input and influence university decision making. They may be reviewing documents, negotiating with administrators, or simply engaging in informed conversation on improving campus life.

These committees range across nearly all corners of campus: the Wisconsin Union, campus transportation, University Health Service, libraries, misconduct panels, advisory committees for deans and provosts and RecSports, just to name a few. Currently, two students sit on the search committee, which selects candidates to interview for the next chief of the UWPD — a standard process for hiring any administrator, including the Chancellor. Ad hoc groups are constantly created to address specific events on campus.

With roots dating back to addressing a typhoid epidemic in 1910, student fees are a mechanism to cover significant components of campus programming and student services not otherwise provided by the university. State law empowers students to allocate nearly $50 million in student fees through the ASM — the shared governance body for students.

Student segregated fees now cover services like grants for student organizations, the bus pass, disability services and the Rape Crisis Center. ASM’s Student Service Finance Committee reviews and recommends budgets for the Wisconsin Union, UHS and RecSports to the Chancellor. The university’s first food pantry, The Open Seat, was created just last year.

The spirit of shared governance is not limited to the institutional mechanisms of budget allocation and representation. Grassroots advocacy in ASM — through Sustainability, Equity & Inclusion and Legislative Affairs Committees — are constantly advocating for student interests, whether that be supporting marginalized communities or lobbying legislators on the upcoming state budget.

Currently, the Sustainability Committee is retooling the Green Fund, which will make $50,000 in grants available for sustainable initiatives that, if deemed successful, would become permanent fixtures on campus.

With or without changes in state statute, shared governance is something of a robust culture or set of norms. There is a mandate that students actively shape and improve the campus experience of the future. 

Shape it we will — now more than ever. Perhaps the silver lining in what seems like unending consecutive weeks of tension and disunity is that we are uniquely motivated to make a difference.

Omer Arain ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science.