ASAP Press Release 10-24-13

7/27/2019 ASAP Press Release 10-24-13

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For Immediate Release: October 24, 2013

UWM VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS MICHAEL LALIBERTE TO STUDENTS:

YOURE NOT WELCOME AT THE TABLE (VIDEO)

UW-MILWAUKEECONTINUESTOOPERATEWITHOUTLEGITIMATESTUDENTSHAREDGOVERNANCE

MILWAUKEE, WI:Newly-released audio of a private meeting between the UW-Milwaukee ChancellorMichael Lovell, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte, and mostly complicit student

leaders exposes a plan to destroy all elected student representation and impose an illegal puppet

government.

Control of millions of dollars in annual student segregated fees and unilateral authority over

future University initiatives, projects, and buildings is seemingly the motive for flagrant

violations of Wisconsin State Statute 36.09(5). Every decision regarding student fees and student

life, services, and interests since June 1st, 2013 has been conducted illegally after Chancellor

Michael Lovell and Vice Chancellor Michael Laliberte worked with a few complicit students to

effectively dissolve the UWM Student Association and replace it with a hand-picked illegal Board

of Trustees.

The below audio, obtained from a person in attendance, contains selected highlights from themeeting described above in which they lay out their plans. You can watch a video of the highlights

by clicking HEREor the picture below, you can watch a video of the full audio HERE, or you can

download the raw audio HERE.

In the above recording, those in attendance reassure each other they are doing the right thing,

while illegally taking away the statutory right to a legitimate voice and vote from the students of

the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, who have a legal say in their fees and services.

All the more troubling are some of the comments made by the officials in Administration, such as

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte's rationalization for excluding certain

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students from their statutory right to shared governance at 2:22 in the highlights video:

I think there are people who dont reflect your values ... here is your opportunity to

say theyre not welcome at the table, because you dont have to include everybody, so

keep that in mind.

This anti-student theme continues in the recording with Vice Chancellor Laliberte expressing

concern that students may call them out on their illegal actions:

3:18 - Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte: What do you do, what do yall

do, with the people you dont want? Who want to fight? ... who want to say, The

Administration is trying to screw us over... and continuing At what point do you cut

some of these people off?

The general public may ask:Why does this matter? What is shared governance anyway?

Professor Curtis V. Smith sums up shared governance and its goals in his paperThe Decline of

Shared Governance in Higher Education (A Historical Perspective):

Shared governance in higher education is a traditional social system of self-

government where decision-making is treated as a participatory process. This processmay be procedural as when soliciting broad input from those affected by a decision or

substantive when utilizing a consensus model. The consensus approach to shared

governance is typified by broad efforts favoring cooperation and collaboration without

domination by a single interest group. The goal of shared governance is to locate

agreeable objectives of interest groups that advance the goals of the institution.

The University of Wisconsin (UW) System has a unique system of shared governance under WI State

Statute 36.09, subsequent case law, and attorney general opinion. For more information and under-

standing regarding shared governance in the UW-System visit: http://asap4uwm.com/sharedgovernance

This autocratic attitude towards shared governance groups is becoming the prevalent climate within

the UW-System, and from actors affecting it from above as well, an attitude that has the potential

to negatively affect other shared governance groups also. The Wisconsin State Legislature is aiming

to change shared governance to allow the Chancellor of each Institution more unilateral authority,

as evidenced in this article from the Capital Times. A few weeks ago UW-Madison Chancellor and

former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank was quotedmaking some troubling comments also

regarding shared governance:

"Blank said she values shared governance but has heard 'horror stories' of collaborative processes

taking several years to reach solutions, so she wants the university to work together to come up

with a 'way to be collaborative but also make decisions in a timely manner.' "

Former Deputy Speaker of the UWM Student Association Senate and former Chair of the Commission on

the Implementation of Wisconsin State Statute 36.09(5)at UW-Milwaukee Taylor Q. Scott followed

this with a statement:

I understand the drive to change shared governance in the UW-System, to make each

respective Chancellor effectively the CEO of their own Institution. It makes thingseasier for the powers that be, it's more 'efficient' to make unilateral decisions

instead of involving different affected groups. But if we embrace a system that

celebrates a diversity of ideas, a system outlined in law in Wis. Stat. Ch. 36.09, we

sacrifice speed for initiatives and undertakings that are better and more

representative of the whole University community. It gives us as a community things we

can be proud of, initiatives and projects that all groups have a stake in.

Ive previously worked in political environments during these tumultuous times; Ive

seen the worst climates where initiatives are jammed through by one group and another

group is ignored, where ideas are shunned. And Ive been on community boards; Ive

seen collaboration in action and a diversity of ideas celebrated. Ive seen

initiatives that every part of a community has a stake in, and while it may take

longer, it is worth it. Ive seen the end result of a truly shared system; And thats

why I will continue to stand up and fight for such a system.


UWM VICE CHANCELLORFORSTUDENT AFFAIRS MICHAEL LALIBERTETO STUDENTS: YOURENOT WELCOMEATTHE TABLE (VID

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At UW-Milwaukee we see an illegitimate student government currently under the thumb of the

appointed and never elected University Student Court (USC). In UWM SA v. Baum (1976)the Wisconsin

State Supreme Court sided with the students' argument that: "If there is a student governmental

entity on campus, and if it is elected by all students and recognized as the student government,

then it has the power to appoint students to committees." In no way can the Board of Trustees or

the University Student Court in any way be construed to have the right to appoint students to

committees under Wis. Stat. 36.09(5). The University Student Court was appointed by the former

Senate, not elected. They were set up to resolve disputes between students and student

organizations, and only those issues are within their purview (as explicitly stated in the student

adopted SA Constitution). So thus, legitimate student shared governance fails to exist at UWM and

those students that would in good faith serve on University committees that they are passionate

about are unassumingly doing so illegally.

- For more information and documentation regarding what happened to student shared governance at

the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, please visit: http://asap4uwm.com/yourvoice

The previously-mentioned statements by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte,

statements such as: Here is your opportunity to say theyre not welcome at the table,

because you dont have to include everybodyand At what point do you cut some of these

people off?seem antithetical to the mission of Student Affairs and theNASPA - Student

Affairs Administrators in Higher Educationendorsed Council for the Advancement of

Standards in Higher Education (CAS)Statement of Shared Ethical Principles. The illegalactions taken and statements made by UW-Milwaukee Chancellor for Student Affairs MichaelLaliberte break several ethical tenets, such as the excerpts below:

PRINCIPLE I - AUTONOMY:We foster an environment where people feel empowered to makedecisions.

PRINCIPLE II NON-MALFEASANCE:We exercise role responsibilities in a manner thatrespects the rights and property of others without exploiting or abusing power.

PRINCIPLE IV - JUSTICE: We operate within the framework of laws and policies.ANDWe respect the rights of individuals and groups to express their opinions.

Is this the new generation of Student Affairs in American higher education? A generationthat excludes students and their ideas, that cuts them off and makes it known theyrenot

welcome at the table where decisions are made about their campus community? Or is this

one official with an agenda and a misguided view of what Student Affairs is supposed to

mean? Student Affairs officials are supposed to provide a service to students, not a

disservice.

This climate that eschews a diversity of ideas and the empowerment of other groups that have a

stake in their own community is a dangerous one and a slippery slope in the long-term. Its a

danger noted by Chad Alan Goldberg, University of Wisconsin - Madison Professor of Sociology, as he

examines why we need to stop being complacent, or even complicit, and stand up to misguided and

malicious Student Affairs Administrators like Vice Chancellor Laliberte and hold them accountable,

before we lose our ability to do so:

Alexis de Tocqueville called individualism: the tendency that disposes each member

of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with

his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his

own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself.

Why is individualism a problem? Because the alternative [to shared governance in this

instance], as Tocqueville pointed out, is guardianship and tutelage [by Institutional

Administration]. Bad guardians use their power to make decisions with which citizens

may not agree and which may even be detrimental to their interests. But even in the

best case, when benevolent guardians have our best interests at heart, guardianship

gradually degrades our capacities to think, feel, and act for ourselves in matters

that affect us and for which we have a legal responsibility.



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Information is constantly updated on the ASAP website; online press releases available

at:www.ASAP4UWM.com/pressreleases.

For any further information or inquiries please contact Taylor Q. Scott at

[email protected] visit: http://asap4uwm.com/contactus.--

- For a summary of student shared governance in the UW-System, please visit:

http://asap4uwm.com/sharedgovernance

- For more information regarding what happened to student shared governance at the University of

WisconsinMilwaukee, please visit: http://asap4uwm.com/yourvoice

# # #TheALLIANCEOFSTUDENTSACHIEVINGPROGRESS(ASAP) is a movement, currently active in the UW-

Milwaukee campus community. ASAP has had a long history as a political party in UW-Milwaukee

Student Association Elections and in student advocacy for 20+ years. Previously known as Achieving

Student Action through Progress, the name may change but our progressive values and integrity in

student and shared governance advocacy will not. We remain a united movement of like-minded

individuals standing up to ensure everyone has a voice. We believe in a truly shared system where

all governance groups under WI Stat. 36.09 work together to advance the goals of their respective

Institution, the UW-System, higher education, and the Wisconsin Idea.



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ASAP Press Release 10-24-13