As the Joint Finance Committee debated and ultimately passed a budgetary motion to freeze tuition and reduce proposed funding for the University of Wisconsin System Thursday, it also passed a provision that could mean United Council, a representative body for students in the system’s universities, would have to operate under a much smaller budget.
Under the current operating system, students attending UW System universities that sponsor United Council pay a $3 refundable fee as part of the segregated fees payment, which is assessed once a semester. The $3 goes directly to the United Council’s operating budget.
The current funding system is designated as an “opt-out” system because the fee is required, but students can recover these funds if they contact United Council and request a refund of the payment.
Under the newly approved JFC rules, students would no longer automatically pay the $3 fee. Instead, the funding system for United Council would be considered an “opt-in” system, meaning students would need to voluntarily fund the organization.
Student advocates and state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, who sits on the JFC, said the new “opt-in” system would limit the amount of money United Council would be able to collect in order to fund its yearly operations and campaigns, such as signing students up to vote in local and national elections or lobbying the state legislature for a tuition freeze. Mason said during JFC discussion Thursday the change would “decimate” United Council.
Matt Guidry, the communications director for United Council, said the change is an attempt to defund United Council and “silence” the student movement in Wisconsin.
“They basically make it where United Council’s budget would shrink anywhere from 10 to 90 percent,” Guidry said.
However, JFC Co-Chair and state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said during JFC discussions Thursday the “opt-in” system was not designed to hurt United Council but was proposed in response to claims from people within the UW System who said a mandatory fee to fund a students' organization was not “appropriate.”
Additionally, Nygren praised United Council’s past work in representing the UW student voice at the four listening sessions held to hear public input on Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget.
At the listening sessions, United Council representatives addressed issues such as the need for additional funding for the UW System as well as their opposition to a portion of the budget that would allow Walker to sell UW System land and buildings without approval from the system’s Board of Regents.
“I think [United Council] did a good job of making [its] case,” Nygren said Thursday, further explaining he thought other UW students would take notice of United Council’s “good” work. “I would suspect [United Council members] will not have trouble getting their fellow students to continue to fund their organization.”
Guidry said the organization is trying to work with state legislators to challenge the “opt-in” system, but he said even if it does pass, members of United Council are still confident that students will recognize “the worth of having a student voice.” However, the extra effort required to secure funding for the organization would force members to use one of their two semesters a year to raise funding and awareness instead of pursuing other goals, according to Guidry.
“We’ll get some students, and we’ll work hard to get students opted in, but the kicker is that it takes away the ability to do important work like the tuition freeze,” Guidry said.
The JFC’s change to the United Council funding system was written into Walker’s biennial budget along with the other UW System funding changes and the two-year tuition freeze that the committee approved Thursday. The JFC will continue to consider the governor’s budget in the coming weeks before the budget moves on for consideration by the full Legislature and Walker.
