Tuition increases, a balanced budget and the environment. These are just a few of the issues college students are focusing on when deciding who to elect as the next governor of Wisconsin Nov. 4.
Current Governor Scott McCallum has taken note of this and made sure that students are part of his campaign platform, according to his campaign's communications director, Debbie Monterey-Millet.
\I know as the governor was going through the last budget period he made sure to sign into law [a provision] linking financial aid to tuition increases and capping tuition because he knows students are a vital part of his plan to grow Wisconsin,"" she said.
The Associated Students of Madison has continually lobbied the current candidates to include a plethora of student issues in their platforms, according to ASM member and UW-Madison junior Faith Kurtyka. Recently, representatives of the candidates sat down with the United Council, where student leaders from across the state were able to ask them where the candidates stand on issues ranging from financial aid increases to racial profiling, Kurtyka added.
""We try to remain nonpartisan,"" she said of ASM and the United Council. ""We're going to have a candidate survey out and distribute it all over campus so students can make their own decisions on the information we provide.""
According to Monterey-Millet, though many topics are important to students the only one the McCallum campaign has seen significant advocacy for has been concerning ""pocket book"" issues.
""Mostly the contacts we have had have been about tuition and financial aid, which makes since because when you get to the older age group its the same thing, just not tuition but taxes an their pocket book,"" she said.
WISPIRG member Megan Fitzgerald said the group focuses on national scale issues and therefore has not been active in lobbying during the gubernatorial race. However, Fitzgerald said she sees the upcoming election as extremely influential for the future of Wisconsin's natural resources.
""Any of the gubernatorial candidates have a great opportunity to really change what's going on in Wisconsin as far as environmental issues,"" she said.
Be it concerning the environment, tuition, the budget or anything else, students will need to decide what is important to them, before they pick what direction Wisconsin is headed, Kurtyka said.
""Students should be like, 'This is the issue I care about, how does each candidate stand on it',"" she said.
