Gov. Scott Walker signed the biennial state budget in Waukesha July 12, revealing the exact effects it will have on the UW-Madison community.
Item 17 of the budget requested that the distribution of segregated fees, charges apart from instructional fees that are collected from all students, be decided upon by Chancellor Rebecca Blank and the Board of Regents, not the Student Services Finance Committee.
Walker vetoed sections of Item 17, saying he objects removing students’ role in the process of fee distribution.
“Students should retain the responsibility to decide the disposition of fees that they pay and that support campus student activities,” Walker said in a budget summary statement.
UW-Madison Executive Director of Communications John Lucas said in a July 13 email that the vetoed section will revert SSFC back to its original autonomy.
However, Walker let stand a different item within the budget which will make all shared governance groups subordinate to rulings made by Blank and the Board of Regents concerning student life.
ASM Chair Madison Laning said she hopes Blank will allow shared governance to run as it previously has, still allowing faculty, classified staff, academic staff and ASM to make decisions collectively.
Decisions surrounding student life could range from what email program the university uses to constructing a new academic building on campus.
“I think with Chancellor Blank we have a little more room, because she is aware what [shared governance] looked like before,” Laning said. “I think we will see a little bit of change immediately, because if anyone were given the power to do something without consultation, a little more could get through than before, when it was required.”
Laning and other members of ASM lobbied to legislators throughout the summer to request shared governance be protected within the budget.
Through a large push on social media, Laning said over 200 students called Gov. Walker’s office July 7, as a part of a campus-wide call-in day.
While the state budget was signed 11 days past the original deadline, it took effect immediately, meaning the changes to shared governance will be enacted as students step foot onto campus this fall.
