It must have been a long time since state Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, last stepped foot on a UW campus because his 'student bill of rights' is completely out of touch with the students and lacks all practicality. Its chief accomplishment is to be an absolute waste of time and money for students, professors, university administrators, legislators and taxpayers.
By requiring professors and the UW Board of Regents to jump through numerous unnecessary administrative hoops, the 'student bill of rights' may actually impede the ability of university administrators and professors to provide a world-class education UW-Madison students expect.
If passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, the 'student bill of rights' would set 14 standards for the UW System to meet. Most of the measures border on absurd. In one instance, all parking rules would be suspended the weeks before and after exams each semester. A second measure would prohibit the Board of Regents from entering a contract granting naming rights to a UW arena, playing field or stadium. Realistically, the 'rights' described by Schneider are far from the concerns of UW-Madison students.
Included in the 'student bill of rights' is a provision that would require Associated Students of Madison to approve the use of any textbook authored by the instructor for their own course. With all due respect to ASM, they do not have the same knowledge of chemistry, engineering, psychology or any other field as professors with years of expertise in their given field. Student government should never have a role in determining which textbooks professors can and cannot assign.
Schneider did get one thing right'students do care about textbooks. As one would expect from reading the rest of the bill, Schneider still manages to miss the point here, too. Under the 'student bill of rights,' the UW Board of Regents would have to adopt maximum weight standards for textbooks used by students. Most students do not care how heavy their textbooks are: they care how light their wallets are after purchasing those textbooks.
The best thing the legislature can do for students is to lower the cost of textbooks, tuition and housing. Legislators who propose measures that address concerns peripheral to students, and have the potential to add administrative costs to UW's budget do not help students.
