The Student Association at UWM has sort of a bad rep. In the past, prominent members have embezzled, made racist remarks, and generally been corrupt. But this past year, all that has changed.
Travis Romero-Boeck’s administration has brought diversity and positive student change to the SA atmosphere. The employees of the Student Association have fought for student rights through shared governance and good works. For the first time in a long while, the Student Association has begun to actually benefit the students.
But why should the average student care about the SA’s doings?
The students of Wisconsin schools are fortunate enough to have a state statute that protects their rights as equal members of the public university system. Statute 36.09 (5) clearly details the rights that students have, and one of those big rights is to have their own self-governance.
The benefit of having this ruling autonomy is two-fold: we can create our own system of management so as to avoid administrative bureaucracy, and we can form a single body for relations with administration. The Student Association of UWM effectively serves both of these purposes.
Firstly, the presence of the Student Association allows for the creation of committees and a process for filling those committees with student representatives. These committees can range from resource center advisory boards to campus-wide funding commissions, and they allow interested students to voice their opinions and suggestions on how the University should be run. One example of the more crucial boards is the Senate Finance Committee – the student-run group that decides how to spend the University’s segregated fees.
Having the ability to allocate the 400 or so dollars per semester that every student pays is another right guaranteed by Statute 36.09 (5). The segregated fees go to support services like the BOSS, the resource centers, the U-Pass, and student organizations. Having the right people on the Senate Finance Committee is what makes the difference between a good University and a great one. This year, the SFC was staffed by competent members of the Romero-Boeck administration, and, as a result, we’ll be seeing an increase in the funding awarded to student organizations and more services offered by the Office of Student Life.
Aside from increasing services in a very broad sense, this year’s Student Association has helped accomplished several impressive good works. We’ve recently redesigned the entire Office of Student Life and Dean of Students Office, and provided a powerful advisory committee to give students even more input on how the University is run.
More vegan options are appearing on campus, including the very successful Rocky Road cookie. This happening in part because the Student Association facilitated a dialogue between VIVE, the vegan student organization, and Restaurant Operations. There is a similar story with the composting bins that have already arrived to Restaurant Ops and are soon to come to the Union. Additionally, the SA has effectively eliminated the food sale caps that were imposed on the student organizations – Spaights Plaza no longer has any limit on how many orgs can sell brats there per semester, for example.
