Passing a bill in the state Senate yesterday was only an initial step in securing another student position on the UW System Board of Regents, according to speakers at an Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee press conference Wednesday.
Students must, they said, continue to support the bill which is scheduled for debate in the Assembly next month.
Politicians who spoke at the event included state Sens. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison and Richard Grobschmidt, D-South Milwaukee, as well as Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison.
The Senate proposal, Bill 175, would obligate the governor to select one student, of at least 18 years of age, from a list compiled by student recommendations. The second spot, according to the bill, would be filled by a nontraditional student who is at least 24 years old.
\Yesterday was a great day in the Senate,"" Grobschmidt said. ""It is an important step forward to have students participate in their education.""
The addition of the student described in the bill would increase representation of single-parent students, for instance, he said.
The bill passed yesterday by a unanimous voice vote, with an amendment proposed by state Sen. Michael Ellis, R-Neenah. Under the amendment, the bill would have still added a student regent, but it would have done away with the governor's obligation to choose that candidate from a student-generated list.
Eric Bott, a UW-Madison junior and nontraditional student, also spoke.
""As a member of the Shared Governance Committee, I know how truly lucky students of the UW are,"" Bott said. ""They have been blessed by our Legislature with an idea wholly unique to our state, an idea that the students of our university system ought to share a participatory role in the governance of their daily lives.""
Each politician echoed thoughts that the bill was crucial for the good of the student population.
""I believe that those affected by these decisions deserve to have a voice in those decisions,"" Pocan said.
Chvala said he hoped the bill would not become a ""partisan issue"" as it progressed through the state Assembly.
""Important work has been done and you've done great,"" Chvala said. ""But there's work yet to be done.""
Bott agreed.
""The University of Wisconsin is unlike any other university system in the nation,"" he said. ""But this does not mean that we can be complacent.\
