UW System officials recently updated the set of guidelines university employees and student organizations must follow for campaigning on campus.
According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, the system has compiled a list of references to policies, statutes and administrative codes about political involvement on campus to make it easier for students and employees to know what their boundaries are.
We recognize that students and faculty and staff want to be engaged in their communities '¦ but want to make sure that as that civic engagement occurs, it occurs within the boundaries of state laws,"" Giroux said.
Giroux said the rules are not meant to inhibit free speech or discourage political involvement, and there have not been many incidents where people have not followed the rules.
The rules prohibit university employees from wearing apparel demonstrating support for a candidate or using university resources to assist in political campaigns. They can only contribute to campaigns outside of work hours.
Student organizations, according to the guidelines, cannot use segregated fees or university resources to make contributions to a campaign, or to fund posters or T-shirts that indicate their support of a specific candidate.
However, students groups are free to encourage other students to vote for a candidate and to express their views on issues as long as they do not use university funds.
Lavilla Capener, UW-Madison junior and communications director for College Democrats, said the lack of university funding for political groups on campus is somewhat hindering to groups just starting up.
However, she said it is probably better for the university to provide no funding for any political groups on campus than to raise controversy for giving more to groups of one political party.
""I think it just brings up a lot of issues that we just don't want to deal with, so I think it's easier just to not give any money to anyone,"" Capener said.
