The Student Senate meeting started at 6:02 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27 in the Dakota Ballroom in Davies Student Center.
The meeting began with a presentation by history professors Andrew Sturtevant and history professor Teresa Sanislo and American Indian Studies associate professor Heather Ann Moody. They discussed Act 15 and introduced an argument against the proposal.
One of the key components in the act was mandating UW campuses to address the transferability of general education (GE) credits to speed up student’s graduation time. The presenter said they believe that if all the UW schools join together and create a uniform GE curriculum, the students will be negatively impacted.
The presenters said that the act will reduce academic freedom and decrease course options. If a course does not have enough seats, then the course will be cancelled. Based on the uncertainty if their liberal education (LE) course will remain, professors are told to make multiple plans for their classes next year.
In addition, the implementation of the act will discard community engaged learning and the creativity learning experience. These are two current graduation requirements for UW-Eau Claire students.
The presentation continued by stating that students may lose pivotal transferable skills like critical thinking, communication and adaptability. They continued by saying that the university may see a decreased enrollment based on UW-Eau Claire’s distinctive programs towards liberal education.
“We are the liberal arts college within the UW system. If that’s something you like, then Eau Claire is the best choice for you,” Sturtevant said. “Act 15 can hurt our brand because people can no longer say we are the campus that has a speciality.”
While the UW system proposed the act, the regions have not yet accepted it at this time. The creation of Act 15 did not have student involvement, and students have not been educated on the impact.
To end the presentation, Moody said, “If we are changing an entire curriculum for the UWs, why aren’t the students’ voices being heard?”
After the presentation wrapped up, senate began on opening reports.
Siena Emerson, director of the Academic Affairs Commission (AAC) said the academic open forum opened Oct. 27. The survey shared via email received 68 responses, and the forum will be open until Nov. 10.
Chanel Berg, director of the University Activities Commission (UAC), said the UAC had nearly 1,000 attendees over all the events hosted this past week. The Dueling Pianos event, held in the Ojibwe Ballroom located in Davies Student Center, gathered over 700 attendees.
Cole Morehouse, director of the Communications Commission, discussed the open forum responses and how the survey had received over 300 responses so far. The commission will send out two more emails in hopes of gathering 100 more responses to meet the stretch goal of 400.
Ally Etzler, director of Intergovernmental Commissions, introduced “Resolution 69-R-7.” Several senate members traveled to Madison, WI to debate the Act 15 resolution and obtain other universities’ perspectives on the act.
Etzler said that the UW-Eau Claire academic degree is specifically tailored to the university. If the act is in place, then the degree would be less specialized.
“Act 15 strips the universities of their individuality,” Emerson said. “We are not a one-size-fits-all system. It’s important our curriculum shares that with the students.”
She continued, saying that other universities are planning on resisting the act. The UWs are setting communication up, and each school will share the message in different regions.
Senate’s main goal is to maintain the UW-Eau Claire program that is set in place while still securing a robust transfer system for the small percentage of students that participate.
Two directors voted against the resolution, noting the high amount of credits lost for transfer students and a lack of student perspective.
“We are one of the few schools that doesn’t have a transfer system,” Morehouse said. “However, I think that students should have been involved and that was an overstepped boundary.”
Senate held a vote on Resolution 69-R-7. This resolution was passed with a vote of 33-2-2.
After exhausting new business, closing announcements were made.
The senate adjourned at 9:03 p.m. and will reconvene next at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3 in the Dakota Ballroom.
Hinz can be reached at [email protected].
