Dr. Rebecca Blank says when she becomes the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she plans to spend her first year getting to know key leaders throughout campus, the State Capitol and the UW System. Let’s hope she also takes time to cultivate the next generation of leaders: the students who are currently enrolled at UW. The best way to do that is to correct a mistake made by her predecessor, Interim Chancellor David Ward, and allow students to decide how to spend the segregated fees they pay to support student activities and services.
In Fall 2011 and again in Spring 2012, the Associated Students of Madison (ASM), the elected student government for more than 40,000 UW-Madison students, voted to support the activities of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG) during the 2012-’13 academic year. WISPIRG is a non-partisan student organization that has worked on campus for nearly 30 years to protect consumers and the environment, strengthen democracy and provide civic engagement and service opportunities for students. Unfortunately, Dr. Ward refuses to approve a sizable portion of the funding allocated to WISPIRG. His refusal stems from a legal dispute about the process by which student government should identify student needs and act to meet them. Should the administration prescribe this process on the basis of its interpretation of the relevant UW System policy? Dr. Ward seems to think so. ASM, he contends, did not determine in the correct fashion that WISPIRG provides a service needed by students. Many students interpret the policy differently, but the university’s lawyers don’t work for them.
Dr. Ward’s actions inadvertently undermined the civic education that UW-Madison provides to students, in part by hampering WISPIRG’s activities on campus. I have been involved with the Public Interest Research Groups for many years, and I am therefore familiar with their work. Before graduate school, I worked as a field manager for OhioPIRG and as a campus organizer for MassPIRG. Since joining the faculty at UW-Madison in 2001, I have sponsored several WISPIRG student internships. As a result of that experience, I know that the PIRGs give students a valuable civic experience that complements classroom learning. WISPIRG serves as a school of democracy for students because it is both student-funded and student-directed, and it involves students in research, problem-solving and education around issues of vital public concern. This kind of civic learning is consistent with the Wisconsin Idea and is an important component of a liberal arts education at UW-Madison, which aims to prepare not just skilled workers for the economy but citizens for society. The chancellor insists WISPIRG can continue to operate effectively on campus despite his actions, and one hopes he is right, but they make it considerably more difficult.
Dr. Ward’s actions also undermine students’ civic education in a more fundamental way. Surely students should have the right to determine how best to identify their own needs and to decide where their fees go. Indeed, Wisconsin State Statute 36.09(5) states that “students in consultation with the chancellor and subject to the final confirmation of the Board [of Regents] shall have the responsibility for the disposition of those student fees which constitute substantial support for campus student activities.” Dr. Ward has construed his consultative role so broadly it erodes students’ statutory responsibility. What kind of civics lesson does this impart? How do students learn to exercise democratic citizenship when they are subjected to guardianship? With all due respect to Dr. Ward, his refusal to approve WISPIRG funding in full erodes the democratic rights and freedoms of students on campus, undermines the quality of the liberal arts education that the university provides, harms its reputation and sets a poor example for other universities around the country. I am sure he intends none of this, but it will be the consequence of his refusal nevertheless.
When Rebecca Blank takes over as chancellor, she will have an opportunity to rectify David Ward’s mistake. By supporting students’ efforts to organize and maintain a student-funded WISPIRG chapter through a democratic decision-making process, she can signal her commitment to robust shared governance for students, staff, and faculty alike. That will be a welcome and valuable civics lesson for us all.
Chad Goldberg is a professor of sociology and the director of the Graduate Studies Department of Sociology at UW-Madison.
