On Wednesday, February 3, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Student Association (SA) met for the first time for the spring semester. They welcomed two guest speakers and discussed updates on campus.

The first guest speaker that came to talk to the SA was State Assembly Representative Steve Doyle. Doyle is a UWL alumnus who also served as a student senator when he attended UWL. He also was a professor at UWL for about 22 years. He came to discuss a few points and gave an update on the bills that he was working on.

Doyle talked about the cost of tuition for college and living compared to when he was in school. He said that he paid his way through high school and college, but is aware that is no longer feasible for students today. He said, “it’s unfortunate that we are making it more difficult for people to be here (at college).”

He also talked about UWL as a school itself. He talked about the tuition freeze that is still in effect at UWL. The tuition freeze has kept student bills lower, but the state government has not back-funded this bill. He said that he views education as an investment, not an expenditure, and he would like to increase taxes to back fund the tuition freeze. Doyle said, “we have great talent in this state. UW-La Crosse is the second most difficult school to get into in the system.”

Doyle also said that the assembly session will be done in about 2 to 4 weeks so there are not any more bills that will be introduced in this session. He said that he hopes to continue to do more with education and sustainability efforts in the next session.

The next guest speaker that came to talk to SA was Blythe McConaughey, the Violence Prevention specialist on campus. She works in the Violence Prevention office and offers a wide range of services and support for students, faculty, and staff on campus. This service is free and confidential to anyone on campus that has experienced any level of violence in their life. McConaughey said, “this is a safe space to talk about anything that has ever happened in your life.”

McConaughey is not a mandated reporter, which allows the meetings and offices to be completely confidential. She is also able to assist in filing reports or restraints. McConaughey stated that she has experience in courtrooms to help individuals get the legal assistance they may need.

The Violence Prevention office has a few events coming up on campus. The Violence Prevention office and the Counseling and Testing center are partnering to provide a free showing of the documentary called Roll Red Roll. The documentary is a story of Steubenville Ohio and a sexual assault case that “shocked the nation.” You can view the film screening on Tuesday, February 15, at 6:30 pm. The Violence Prevention office will be holding other events during sexual assault awareness month in April. The Violence Prevention office plans to hold other events during sexual assault awareness month in April.

Next in the meeting, SA President Jared Zwettler gave an update about UWL adding security cameras. He said that there should be a plan coming out soon with plans to add cameras on the entrances to all of the buildings on campus. He said that “over the next couple of months there will be something concrete to work with.”

Lastly, the SA discussed a new resolution that would approve the budget for the Academic Initiative Differential Allocation Committee (AIDAC). The budget will be the same as the previously approved budget that has a total of $1,361,042 that is distributed between twelve campus entities. This resolution will be discussed again and voted on in the SA meeting next week.