News
Referendum debate escalates
The Pointer
ajuhn217@uwsp.edu
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Student Government Association senate voted Thursday 9-4-0, with applause, to postpone the United Council referendum to next spring. Scott Asbach, president of SGA, then vetoed this decision earlier this week.
Because of the veto, the referendum will still be held online beginning today and run until Monday, Oct. 26.
There has been a bit of an uproar by students as many plan to persuade the senate to overturn the veto.
If the veto is overturned tonight, the voting period will end and will postponed until next spring.
Some members of the senate, including Asbach, feel postponing the referendum is doing the students a great disservice by making students pay two dollars for another semester of something that is not applicable to the times.
He said when UC was formed 50 years ago, students did not have as much of a voice as they do now.
Asbach’s apparent dislike for UC added to the very negative overtone during the debate at last week’s senate meeting.
He thinks the student representative meetings are more beneficial and applicable to the current times. Student representative meetings consist of each UW school’s presidents and vice presidents meeting every two months in Madison in a fairly informal setting with state leaders including Governor Jim Doyle and the UW System president, Kevin Riley.
“We sit in a big room and we talk. And it’s outstanding. I have never been so happy walking out of a meeting before,” said Asbach. “We get so much done. Just talking about what everyone is doing and we brainstorm and we sit there and we solve problems.”
The debate turned to whether or not people on senate approve of UC and/or the president and UWSP student Kirk Cychosz.
Andy Letson, senator and speaker of the senate, said, “I believe that there is the possibility of bias by certain members of SGA because the president of United Council comes from this campus. Whether that clouded the judgment of senators... I cannot say. I hope not. I really hope that all the senators took the facts as they were.”
Kelley Schacht, the inclusivity and shared governance director for UC said the possibility of bias on campuses where board members attend, for or against UC varies, from campus to campus. The vice president of UC attends UW-Eau Claire. Their referendum is this semester with a vote yes campaign run by the student senate.
When yielded time to speak from the senate the first time, Cychosz himself fueled the fire.
“Every bad rumor you have heard about me is true. I am probably the most rude, crass individual you are ever going to meet. Just ask Mr. Letson or Mr. Asbach,” said Cychosz.
“I don’t like Kirk Cychosz either,” said Michael Wilson, SGA executive director. “Every time I see him I want to throw a shoe at his face. But it’s not about us and our personal politics with Kirk Cychosz. This is bigger than us.”
Cychosz explained to the senate what UC is currently doing for UWSP, which is mainly lobbying for the regent reform. This is getting equal representation of all UW schools on the UW System Board of Regents.
“I believe that his interpretation of the benefits of United Council are biased because of his position in United Council,” said Letson.
Senator Sarah Bodine brought the discussion back to its original purpose.
“Right now we are not in a debate whether or not we are going to be in United Council. That is up to the students,” said Bodine. “So right now the issue at hand is if we are going to have the vote available to students in the fall or to the students in the spring.”
Some members of the senate, including senator Crystal Laabs, feel SGA needs more time to educate the student body on what UC is, what it does and what they will be voting on in the referendum.
“I believe when we originally passed the United Council referendum, we passed it unknowledgeable in what United Council is and we are going to impact the student body of UWSP with a referendum about an organization they know nothing about,” said Laabs.
Laabs also claimed there was has been no information about the referendum on campus at all and was quickly corrected and informed about the UC article that ran in “The Pointer” on September 17.
Education for the student body has already commenced. Letson said he has already started sending out Student Messages of the Day to students including links to the UC Web site and tabling in the Dreyfus University Center.
Another issue that was addressed was if SGA had a contract with UC binding them to two years as a member. Usually, this is not an issue because the referendum has traditionally been simultaneous with the presidential elections.
Laura Ketchum-Ciftci, the SGA faculty advisor, said she does not recall ever seeing a contract because they usually pass her desk.
Schacht said UWSP’s last referendum was in spring 2008 and we would not be due for one until spring of 2010, but the student government can choose to hold a referendum whenever they choose.
Cychosz, in agreement with the postponement, compared this to the elections. He asked Asbach and Nate Schultz, vice president, how they would feel if their terms ended a semester early.
“I think the students who voted to have two years deserve two years of re
presentation. Not a year and a half, but two years,” said Cychosz.
