Victory!

The UWM Student Association elections have ended, and Brent Johnson and I, as well as the rest of the ASAP party have succeeded! After a hard fought campaign, our dedication to student empowerment, our impassioned party, and our ample knowledge propelled us to victory.

As of now, the vote totals are still being configured. ASAP ran four write in candidates for L&S, as well as one for Nursing. We are hopeful that at least two or three will get in. Not including possible write-in senators, ASAP ran 30 candidates and took 30 seats out of a total of 33 seats contested. Brent and I received "around 800 votes" out of a total of "around 1600 votes" and won by a margin of "about 400 votes." Again, these numbers are just preliminary.

I remember beginning this blog over a year ago with a vision for SA. I knew I wanted to accomplish big things, and I never stopped coming up with innovative ways to achieve them. (some more realistic than others) As the months rolled on, I spent most of my time paying close attention to how Travis and Angela operated, and soaking up institutional knowledge like a sponge. Although I knew I wanted to run for SA President from way back, I swore to myself I would be truly qualified by the time I did. I can honestly say that at the moment I hold myself qualified to serve the students of UWM, and I cannot wait to hit the ground running.

This victory would have been impossible without the support of many people, but more than anyone, I owe the wonderfully passionate and articulate members of ASAP a lifetime of thanks.

A special thanks goes out to my running mate Brent Johnson, whose tireless dedication and drive bordered on obsession, and to Rick Banks, official ASAP Party Chair, and future Speaker of the Senate. I believe Rick worked harder than anyone, staying around long after everyone went home, and arriving before anyone in the morning.

I'm going to keep this short, but I'd like to reaffirm my belief that transparency in the SA is instrumental, and that one of the best ways to allow students access to knowledge is simply to keep a blog, so..I plan on keeping one through my presidency.

I look forward to relaxing a bit for the next few weeks, and then June 1st, the fun begins!

Campaign Season Begins!

At 5:00 today it became official, ASAP has entered campaign season. After a long day that began at eight this morning, I'm proud to report we've recruited 34 senate candidates! Our candidates hail from almost every college within UWM, and are surely the most impassioned and qualified future representatives I've had the honor of working with.

After turning in a stack of papers as thick as The Bible to the University Student Court this afternoon, I breathed a sigh of relief. There were times when I wondered how many people would end up following through with their promises to get involved, and sure enough, come through they did! Now we begin the easy part, talking with the student body about our plans to improve life here at UWM, and learning more about what the students expect from us. This face to face communication is what I like best about being a student representative, and I hope to be able to gather a lot of creative input about ways to heighten student involvement and increase satisfaction with on campus events.

I'm a problem solver by nature. When I hear someone has a problem with the way something runs here, my first thought is what I can do as a Senator to help fix it. On the campaign trail I'll have the same mindset, so don't hesitate to give me any suggestions you may have!

I plan to hold a ASAP party meeting early next week and pound out our marketing strategy. I can't wait to get started!

In other news, I was proud to see the Student Association Senate take a stand for faculty and staff's right to collectively bargain at last night's meeting. My legislation "The Worker's Resolution" passed handedly, and set a strong tone for the defense of the rights of our professors, teaching assistants, and classified staff members. The UWM Post did a nice job of covering the debate, so I'll include a link below. Other than that, I plan on meeting with Union Director Scott Gore soon to discuss creating a financial plan to build music practice rooms in the Union, as well as purchasing more composting bins. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I was recently appointed Union Policy Board Chair. Although my term only lasts till the end of the semester, I'll make sure to make it productive.

Alex.

P.S. The UWM Post link:
http://www.uwmpost.com/2011/03/07/sa-senate-meeting-recap-this-is-what-democracy-looks-like/

Keeping a consistent vision at UWM

When Scott Walker's budget came out last week, many people asked how UWM would adapt to the massive changes scheduled to blow through the campus.

Under the last line of the "Education" section of the budget, Walker lists his vision for our campus. UWM is to begin implementing reforms that will lead to us becoming a "private authority," Think Marquette. Now as most of us know, UW-Milwaukee doesn't quite have the millionaire-alumni backbone that Marquette does. If we want to build on campus, we pay for it ourselves by taking out loans that cost us for decades. We don't get building donated and we don't survive off of handouts from the rich. Milwaukee is solidly middle-class, and proud of it.

We educate more Wisconsin residents than any other University in the State, and our goal is to shape the minds of our future lawyers, doctors and teachers. We cannot be who we are, who our community NEEDS us to be, as a private school. Our tuition will rise, our state funding will diminish. The diversity and multiculturalism we hold dear will disappear as middle-class and lower-class students are priced out of an education in their home city.

If elected this April, ASAP will fight to keep tuition affordable for our students. We will ensure that even if UWM makes moves towards privatization, the quality and mission of our campus will not change. We will do everything within our power to resist a fundamental change to our University.

In the meantime, I'll try to avoid harping on and on about the coming attempts at privatization. ASAP has a dedication to improving life on campus in many other ways, and although we certainly will have a important battle on our hands, we will not forget our pledge to RENEW, TRANSFORM and PROGRESS our campus.

I'll update sometime next week when the ballots are finalized.

Alex.

P.S. ASAP has finished the signature process, and has a membership of 37 senatorial candidates, making us the largest party ever!

A proxy of our website is currently up at:

www.asap2011.digitaldbo.com

The Death of the UW System?

If things go as planned for Governor Walker in the next few days, UW-Madison will be cut from the UW System, and established as a "Public Authority." Madison will continue to operate in a similar way as before on the outside, however major changes are coming. Heavy privatization is set to take place, with the Chancellor taking part in direct hiring and salary decisions. A separate board of regents will govern Madison, and Madison student's tuition money will stop flowing into the rest of the UW System. Aside from this breaking up the system and rising tuition here at UWM, the news is most disturbing for our students because Walker has stated the while "Madison is up to bat, Milwaukee is on deck."

This upcoming year is going to be very important for the Student Association of UWM. If we're broken off of the UW System, everything we know about our college WILL change. Our tuition levels will be directly affected and our shared governance capabilities, protected by Wisconsin state law, will be horrendously affected. Even the focus of our University will be affected. I'll quote an all-student email Interim Chancellor Lovell sent out today:

"Our momentum is outstanding
and I am greatly concerned about the possible impact on UWM that might
result from changes in UW System organization. I told the Regents one of
three scenarios may play out:

1. UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison may both be separated from the UW System
at the same time. We would certainly be the weaker of the two
institutions and would have trouble getting a reasonable share of
available resources.

2. UW-Milwaukee would remain as the only doctoral research university in
the UW System, meaning we would have very little in common with the 11
comprehensive universities left behind.

3. UW-Milwaukee would, immediately or at some time in the future, be
separated from the UW System in a similar public authority status as
UW-Madison. This could be the most challenging, considering UW-Madison
is better able to afford such an arrangement given it has a much larger
endowment, much more research revenue and students’ families with
significantly larger incomes. This has been alluded to by the governor,
but we have seen no details."

Undeniably, the UW System is going to be drastically changed. The effects this split has on Madison are going to be important to study, so that UWM can decide what course of action to take. I'm personally concerned mostly with the loss of 36.09.5, the state statute that allows us to govern ourselves independently of administration. If we are no longer part of the UW System, 36.09.5 may no longer apply to us. In reality, with a split in the System, the statute would have to be completely rewritten, which I doubt would happen during Walker's tenure in office. If we're split, we could see an end to students allocating their own segregated fees, and end to student resource funding, and an end to our ability to make important decisions at the administrative level. If this happens, Students will be second class citizens at our own University.

A hard fight lies before us. Next year we're going to have to make a stand to defend our rights. ASAP is up to that task, and I hope the students will give us the honor of doing so. ASAP has the right experience and passion to ensure students will not become second class citizens here at UWM.

-Alex.

P.S. ASAP's facebook page is now up. "Like" us!
http://www.facebook.com/asap2011

Baring Teeth

It's going to be one of those campaigns..

The kind where "national politics" somehow get wrapped up into Student Association business. Although real political beliefs rarely transfer over into the Student Association perfectly, (Duerstein supporting athletic-backed Seg Fee raises and buying new Mac Books for the Prez and Speaker, Kristopeit supporting the Union Renovation, Burseth opposing it) that doesn't stop people from trying to drag "liberal" and "conservative" values into the race.

This year ASAP is not built around a bi-partisan arrangement, but a nonpartisan one. Truth be told, my running mate Brent Johnson and I have little in common when it comes down to National Party affiliation, however that doesn't matter because when it comes to Student affairs, we are 100% in agreement. Looking at my opposition for President, it becomes clear what the talking points will be.

Senator Pugel has posted part of his platform on the facebook page for his party "A Call to Action." In it, he pledges to immediately enact reforms to alleviate the "segregated fee burden" imposed by this year's SFC. Unfortunately, it sounds like Senator Pugel is recycling the same old Duerstein rhetoric, that the increase in segregated fees is out pricing students from an education. Really?

What's out pricing students from an education is Governor Walker's upcoming funding cuts to the UW system. Tuition is going up, and there's nothing we can do about it. The Students are faced with a choice. Should they cut their own Seg Fees, the only part of their tution they control, and save $100 per semester? Should they cut 35K from the SA as Pugel suggests, and erase PantherFest, the SA Block Party, the Spaights Spooktacular? Shall we cut the money we just allocated to create the Inclusive Excellence Center, and fail once again to address our problem with minority retention? Should we cut funding to the Campus Activities Board, and the Union RSO Wing Renewal Project? Should we pay more tuition, and receive less in services?

You tell me.

I won't make those decisions. I won't save you $100 a semester or more. I won't promise to "Stop these increases, WITHOUT cutting student services."

I fought for them. I debated, and lobbied. ASAP worked this year to bring some meaning to your higher tuition, to give you something to look forward to. We fought to increase the number of renowned speakers this campus could bring, the number of interesting community events we could hold. We know that UWM is at a crossroads, and that every year we become less of a commuter school. We must give YOU a reason to want to go here, and continue going here. And I'm going to keep fighting, to make sure we do.

UW Green Bay Trip, and the beginning of the Campaign

It has been quite the long weekend. I returned from UW Green Bay last night at 5:00, after being up there for three days for the United Council convention. I ended up getting something like nine hours of sleep throughout the weekend, and returned exhausted, although happy. I was elected to the United Council Board of Directors, which was quite an honor for me. I serve on the board with a number of passionate and powerful Student Government leaders from around the UW System, and I'm excited to be in their company. With board member Sana Khan's transfer to UWM, Milwaukee now has two members on the board. It's nice to have representation, which we surely deserve since we're paying UC $120,000 per year for membership. Immediately after being elected, I introduced my first piece of legislation to the board, which I called the "UW Financial Transparency Act." The bill calls for universal access to the UW Financial "Redbook" which lists UW school's financial expenditures. I believe that financial transparency is necessary, and access to such information should be restricted to just UW System Wi-fi connected computers. The bill will be voted on at the next convention in February.

Although I'm still feeling tired, this week is going to be huge for the campaign. I will begin collecting signatures from UWM students tomorrow, and our goal is to collect 1000 before the March 7th deadline. This week we'll be holding ASAP's first General Strategy Meeting, and I'm excited to get together and pound out campaign ideas, and improve our platform even more. We'll also be working on our website, which is set to launch in a few weeks. I'll keep everyone updated!

The Announcement

I've waited a long time to write this blog.

I hereby announce my candidacy for President of the Student Association. After much thought, I believe my experience serving the students as a Senator as well as Public Relations Director makes me qualified to help lead the organization into a year of productivity and progress. I have learned so much from my co-workers, the members of the Romero-Boeck administration, about SA policy, legislative advocacy, and administrative diplomacy. I've sharpened my skills at solving student problems during my year as a senator, and devoted many hours to learning SA history. I'm confident that the coalition I've helped build will serve the students of our campus like no other administration before us.

I've spent the last few months working on finding the most qualified and passionate people to run with, and I couldn't be happier with the results. We've crafted a party that will generate new and innovative ideas, without getting bogged down in the bureaucratic process that all too often ruins SA. Joining me are many current senators, whose dedication to advancing the will of the students shines through. I've planned an executive branch that will provide me and my running mate with honest advice as well as fresh ideas. As of tonight, our party boasts membership of 37 students. I've decided to run under the Achieving Student Action Through Progress Party (ASAP) which has the honorable history of having been a bulwark against corrupt administrations, and non-inclusive policies. ASAP is also the party of the Romero-Boeck administration. Although I didn't run as an ASAP candidate last year, I am glad to have worked with so many of their members, and I respect their drive. This year, the ASAP platform will be different, however our dedication to continuing the fight for increased student benefit will remain unchanged.

Unlike last year, ASAP will be facing some competition, as two current senators have announced they are going to be running also. Senators Campbell and Pugel are in the process of forming parties, and I expect them to give me quite a fight for office. During the last senate meeting, I amended the IEC bylaws to demand a public debate between presidential candidates. I look forward to meeting my opponents in this forum, as well as the chance to show the students ASAP's ideas for a better campus. I'm sure all you readers also want to know what my plans are, and what ways ASAP is going to work to improve the lives of UWM students, and I assure you that they will be made public soon. Our official website is going public in two weeks, and I'll also update on here with more info as the days progress. I probably could have waited a bit longer for this, but the excitement got the best of me!

I'll be heading to Green Bay this weekend for a UC meeting, and may run for a spot on the board. I'll update soon after with a report of how that went. Until then, I look forward to the many conversations I'll have with you all, as well as all the hard work that lies ahead. I pledge to give it my all, and the students will not be disappointed.

Cheers,

Alex.