Fourteen schools, 84 student leaders, three Associated Students of Madison representatives and two regular UW-Madison students traveled from across the Big Ten network sit down as a ‘think tank’ at the Ohio State University this month.
The Association of Big Ten Students serves as a platform for networking and information sharing among student governments across Big Ten universities. It holds an annual winter conference to set its legislative agenda.
“The ability to pressure [students on other campuses] if it's something you really want to get done, or to have on side throughout Big Ten. I think that something that really important and something that's hard to get,” Max Ritzow, a UW-Madison junior who attended the conference, said.“That environment is one of the only ones where you can get something like that.”
However, UW-Madison representatives noted other schools sent solely members of their students governments, many of whom have been attendees for years. Ritzow and Rachel Hellrood, a sophomore, applied and were chosen through ASM to attend as students outside of the student government on campus.
“We have the most autonomous and most robust structure student government … this is one space where I get reminded how lucky we are to be in this student government” ASM Representative Brooke Evans said. She emphasized the grassroots structure of UW-Madison’s campus, “It's a bottom up here, its top down there. ASM is a kind of a hippie.”
Moreover, the environment in many universities’ student governments is also exclusive.
“Most of them don’t get paid, so again there is also this representation issue,” Alex Hader, a freshmen on ASM, said. “Who are the people taking on this non-paid elite position? It’s like unpaid internships. It’s not low-income, students depending on scholarships. They are not doing that.”
The weekend’s discussions included four main issues, off-campus safety, sustainability/energy privatization, textbook affordability and mental health.
Ohio State University students, who recently experienced an attack on their campus, shared their thoughts with other universities about their campus alert system and “Run, Hide, Fight” program.
Nonetheless, they raised concerns about lack of technology which causes a communication gap in emergencies. The cellphone reception does not cover all parts of the campus, potentially putting students who cannot receive active shooting alerts at risk. UW-Madison also shares the same concern due to lack of Wi-Fi coverage in some buildings, according to Ritzow.
“We were going to disconnect cell service or internet service in some buildings to try and combat cheating”, Hader said, recalling something she read in the past. “But at the same time, it makes students vulnerable, so it’s a weird issue with technology.”
Hader also said that after the incident, OSU identified gaps in communication due to technology, and addressed those issues through an advisory committee. Though UW-Madison is the only school with shared governance structure, it will not have a similar advisory platform until in the near future.
UW-Madison is planning to establish an advisory committee composed of faculty, academic staff, university staff and students in collaboration with UWPD and MPD to better address campus safety issues, according to Hader. Matovich added they are looking into putting important safety numbers on the back of Wisc Cards.
“It’s one of those spaces where you get a lot of ‘holy shit that's a great idea, that's a great idea, that's a great idea.’ It's just like a big think-tank and it’s the best,” Evans said. “A relevant think-tank.”
