Saturday, October 21, 2006
UWM Administration shuts down the Student Association
EDIT: Wow, I jumped the gun on this one. Turns out that my opinions expressed at the time wasn't the whole story. Turns out there is a bigger mess than what I had originally thought. I have personally dealt with Russ Rueden and he seemed to be a good guy, bringing common sense solutions to UW-Milwaukee.
Now, I don't know all the sides involved in this, as it is next to impossible, but I still feel that the rest of the UWM shouldn't have been locked out of their work. As I have said before, just because there are a couple of bad apples doesn't mean you throw out the whole bag. However, I do believe that the police do have the right to properly investigate the case, and hopefully, will do it legally and successfully.
If the students care enough, they should recall the elected leadership and/or start their own student association. It should be left up to the students to decide. If you think chaos will ensue in the next few days, you haven't seen nothing left if Santiago and UWM administration meddle in student organization.
It is my hope that cooler heads will prevale in this case. It seems like neither side is acting rationally.
I have since retracted my statements of earlier this morning as my assumptions were based on a bit too much emotion and not much rational thought. Students have to tread carefully in these times as everyone is looking to take their rights away from them. Wisconsin is the beacon of light when it comes to university governance and we have to protect what we have.
In a story that hit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today, there is suspicion that UW-Milwaukee Student Association members embezzled at least $10,000 from student fees. As a result, Chancellor Santiago has shut down their student government. Talk about a violation of the shared governance laws in Wisconsin as well as various other court rulings.
Earlier this month, Chancellor Carlos Santiago asked leaders of the Student Association, which includes the Student Senate, to turn over financial records and policies to university auditors.
Jim Hill, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, said he moved to suspend the association after the leaders refused, saying they would conduct an internal audit of their own.
In a letter that was tacked on the association's office door Friday morning, Hill said student officers, senators and staff were being barred from access to funds generated by student fees and university facilities including the Student Association office and computers until the matter was resolved.
The shutdown, which included changing locks on the office door, infuriated the association's president, Samantha Prahl, who said she was at UW-La Crosse for a conference on Friday. Prahl said in a phone interview that she had informed the university's auditor this week of her intentions to turn over all of the association's financial records except those for a bank account of fund-raising money.
Prahl, who is scheduled to meet with the auditor on Monday, said the administration was violating the students' right to self-governance."They just jumped to conclusions and closed down the student voice on campus," Prahl said. "We can't go into the office, we can't govern ourselves."
Labels: UW System
