The Associated Students of Madison partially endorsed the Wisconsin Initiative for Undergraduates Wednesday and resolved to create a shared governance committee to oversee the allocation of the funds if the initiative passes.
""We are hemorrhaging faculty. It's directly impacting the quality of education,"" ASM representative Jeffrey Wright said. ""Something's got to give. Students on this campus who can be giving more should be giving more.""
While ASM supports the initiative's vision, the group has lingering questions about how the initiative will operate if passed by the UW System Board of Regents in May.
ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand said she hopes the partial endorsement will allow ASM to wield leverage as Chancellor Biddy Martin, who drafted the plan, continues discussion about the initiative.
""If I was in her position and I had one group's full support and another group with questions, I would pay more attention to the group with questions,"" Wiegand said.
Wiegand said ASM will fully endorse the initiative if representatives feel their questions have been addressed.
Representative Dakota Kaiser, who voted against the resolution, said the plan could backfire by turning away low-income students who see the rise in tuition and are unaware of the aid.
""I don't know how I could tell the next generation of students that I voted on this without seeing a contingency plan to communicate the financial aid to students,"" Kaiser said.
The resolution calls for ASM and the chancellor to cooperate in creating a shared governance committee made up of students, faculty and staff to oversee the initiative's operations.
ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand said she will ask the chancellor to allow ASM to establish the committee, which would allow students to have a majority. Martin said she supported the idea of a student majority on the committee.
ASM also resolved to create a subcommittee of the shared governance committee to look particularly at the allocation of funds to student support services. This committee would be all students.
The chancellor will make final decisions, but ASM representatives were confident the student committees would have a large impact.
""[The committee does not] have final say, but like in a lot of shared governance committees, in the end the work that goes in on the back end is so much that you kind of have to take the proposals,"" Academic Affairs Chair Chris Tiernan said.
