UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley's State of the University speech Monday was impressive overall, but had an important flaw.
Wiley's strongest point came when he urged citizens to vote against the gay marriage amendment. Unfortunately, the amendment passed one day later with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
The new amendment will most likely prohibit UW-Madison from offering faculty and staff domestic partner benefits, leaving our university the only one in the Big Ten without such privileges. Wiley's position on the amendment was economically in line with the interests of the university.
However, Wiley's plan to require UW-Madison students to participate in university student organizations is misguided. Although many alumni cite extracurricular activities among their most memorable college experiences, participation should not be mandatory.
Wiley's idea is flawed for several reasons. First, Wiley's requirement would narrowly define which organizations qualify as legitimate student organizations. For example, a group must be not-for-profit and formalized, and its membership must comprise and be controlled primarily by UW-Madison students.
Second, the plan assumes that all UW-Madison students have time available to participate in qualifying organizations. Many UW-Madison students must put themselves through college and simply don't have time for student organizations, even if they may have the interest.
Also, some important extracurricular activities would not even meet Wiley's standards for participation. For example, although state government offers many valuable student internships and jobs, these would apparently not meet Wiley's requirement.
On the student organization website, Wiley writes, ""By participating in these groups, students not only enrich their own experiences, but also those of their peers, and that is the ideal of shared learning.""
If students aren't gung-ho about participating in a student organization, however, they will neither be enriched nor will their participation enhance the group.
Joining a student organization is a great experience, but participation must be driven by desire, not well-intentioned coercion. Wiley's extracurricular activity proposal should not be implemented.
