In the spring, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse seniors Ben O’Connell and Haley Jurecki campaigned together for the president and vice president positions in UWL’s Student Association. At the time, their platform consisted of promoting sustainability on campus, fixing the cell service in The Student Union, and working along with state legislators to introduce violence protection and shared governance legislation for the University of Wisconsin System. 

In an attempt to promote sustainability at UWL, the pair have introduced a new cabinet seat – sustainability director. Before summer break, O’Connell and Jurecki appointed their cabinet members, selecting Students for Sustainability co-chair Samantha Wolfe as their sustainability director. 

Of the appointment, they stated, “Her goals of decreasing the impact of UWL on our environment and increasing sustainable practices on campus align well with ours.” 

Together, they have moved forward with their initiative to eliminate straws from UWL’s Student Union. “Of all our goals, we have made the most progress on this one,” the team states. Students will be able to voice their opinion on this issue by voting in the Oct. 2 referendum. 

This summer has given some of the pair’s other goals time to develop as well.  

They explain, “we have been in talks lately with [Wisconsin State Assembly] Representative Katrina Shankland’s office to make the violence prevention resources bill for all campuses in Wisconsin a reality.” There has been a push for violence prevention services since former Student Association President Jacob Schimmel’s tenure.  

One of the concerns in violence prevention is that there are few individuals on campus who are not mandated reporters. This means that those who do want help in response to domestic and sexual violence have few places that they can confide in if they do not want a report to be filed. O’Connell and Jurecki have expressed their concerns over this issue as well, but the change would likely need to come through the Wisconsin State Legislature. 

One place where the team has not had as much success is in fixing the lack of cell phone service in the basement at The U. They detailed, “increasing cell service in The U is complex and comes with many hurdles, but our dedication to the issue has not waivered.” 

The duo has added to their initiatives as well, attempting to add what they call a “woman of color endowment fund” which they state would be a first at UWL. “We hope this will lessen the financial burden of women of color who are, on average, more in debt than the average college student receiving loans,” says the two.