Wisconsin (1997)
The introduction
in the Wisconsin State Senate of a bill to prevent Universities from collecting
mandatory fees to fund certain student organizations and activities has drawn
harsh criticism from many quarters on campus. The bill -- SB 134 sponsored
by Senator Robert Welch -- would bar Universities from allocating a portion
of the mandatory student activities fee to any organization that was deemed
"political" or "ideological". If passed, the bill would require Universities
and student governments to engage in a fundamentally unconstitutional exercise:
allocating funding based upon the content of a group's speech or opinions.
At a September
10, 1997 hearing of the Senate Education Committee, opponents of SB 134 significantly
outnumbered supporters. Eighteen of the twenty parties to testify spoke against
the bill and in favor of the current practice, in which a wide variety of differing
viewpoints are funded by the activities fee regardless of ideology or politics.
Only the bill's sponsor and one student , who does not attend a UW System school,
spoke in support of the bill.
Those
testifying against the bill included a local mother who had attended the hearing
because of another matter. Her daughter is a newly enrolled freshman at the
UW Madison campus, and when she learned that the bill would prevent her daughter
from participating in the variety of campus organizations that currently exist,
she stood up to oppose the bill.
Due to
the significant opposition voiced at the hearing, there is optimism that SB
134 will die in committee, but members of the United Council (the statewide
association representing 140,000 students) and WISPIRG continue to build a coalition
of educators, students, and community leaders to protect the campus forum and
oppose the bill.
Update:
* This bill was defeated during the 1997 legislative session *
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