UW System Students Dismayed by Doyle Veto
Sisi Chen
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Opinion
MADISON, Wis. (Dec. 15, 2009) - On Monday, Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a bill that would have required some members of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to be from certain geographic areas of the state.
The Board of Regents is an 18-member body that appoints top officials, sets admission standards, approves university budgets and determines UW System policies. Fourteen of the board's members are appointed by the Governor to seven-year positions. Currently, 10 of these 14 live in Milwaukee or Dane County. Senate Bill 223 would have divided the state into seven districts and required that at least one member of the board be from each district.
The original version of this bill was first introduced in 2003. Over the last two months, many UW System students across the state rallied around this legislation, holding press conferences to bring attention to this bill and urging their legislators to vote in favor of it.
Scott Asbach, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student government president, echoes the disappointment shared by many other students over Doyle's decision to veto the bill.
"The Student Government Association of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, on behalf of the more than 9,000 UWSP students, rejects Governor Jim Doyle's decision to veto Senate Bill 223," Asbach said in a written statement.
"The bill would have brought proper geographical diversity to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin and ensured equal representation for the entire UW System," he said.
Some schools, like the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, passed resolutions to support the bill. According to student government vice-president Nicholas Vlies, the bill was a critically important piece of legislation to UWGB and other schools.
"The Green Bay area and northeast Wisconsin have historically been underrepresented on the Board of Regents and it seems that this situation is not likely to change now with the vetoing of the bill," he said.
United Council, Wisconsin's statewide student association, has supported this bill since it was first introduced. United Council believes passage of this bill is especially important to creating better administrative representation of the entire UW System. UC is now working with student leaders across the state to contact the governor's office to express their disappointment in the vetoing of the bill.
The Board of Regents is an 18-member body that appoints top officials, sets admission standards, approves university budgets and determines UW System policies. Fourteen of the board's members are appointed by the Governor to seven-year positions. Currently, 10 of these 14 live in Milwaukee or Dane County. Senate Bill 223 would have divided the state into seven districts and required that at least one member of the board be from each district.
The original version of this bill was first introduced in 2003. Over the last two months, many UW System students across the state rallied around this legislation, holding press conferences to bring attention to this bill and urging their legislators to vote in favor of it.
Scott Asbach, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student government president, echoes the disappointment shared by many other students over Doyle's decision to veto the bill.
"The Student Government Association of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, on behalf of the more than 9,000 UWSP students, rejects Governor Jim Doyle's decision to veto Senate Bill 223," Asbach said in a written statement.
"The bill would have brought proper geographical diversity to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin and ensured equal representation for the entire UW System," he said.
Some schools, like the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, passed resolutions to support the bill. According to student government vice-president Nicholas Vlies, the bill was a critically important piece of legislation to UWGB and other schools.
"The Green Bay area and northeast Wisconsin have historically been underrepresented on the Board of Regents and it seems that this situation is not likely to change now with the vetoing of the bill," he said.
United Council, Wisconsin's statewide student association, has supported this bill since it was first introduced. United Council believes passage of this bill is especially important to creating better administrative representation of the entire UW System. UC is now working with student leaders across the state to contact the governor's office to express their disappointment in the vetoing of the bill.
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