Hey everyone! My name is Brett Spangler, and I’m a sophomore serving as a senator with the Oshkosh Student Association. I’m writing this piece because I want to be more engaged with the students of UW Oshkosh. I’ll be contributing here once a month to give students an update on what OSA has been up to and to gather your feedback on what you would like to see from us.

If you ever have questions or concerns about OSA, or if you have any ideas for what OSA should be working on, don’t hesitate to email me directly at . I hope to hear from you soon!

OSA Input Survey

Recently, our OSA executives organized and created a survey to see what OSA services students have been using, and what you might like to see in the future. This survey was very important because OSA services are funded through segregated fees, so we want to make sure students are getting what they paid for. The survey closed October 30, so our executives are already in the process of reviewing the results and feedback that was submitted. Also, University Books and More was generous enough to provide eight t-shirts for us to give away at random to students who filled out the survey, so if you took it, keep an eye on your email!

Titan Transit

Our OSA executives have done a great job this year of reviewing all of our contracts with various companies that help us provide services to students. One contract they reviewed was for Titan Transit, the evening and late-night bus service provided by OSA. In order to save costs overall and help with the possible addition of more routes, the executives decided to discontinue the Thursday late night (10 p.m. to 3 a.m.) route due to ridership being in the single digits. This simple change will save students $800 a month and $6,400 for the entire year.

Titan Readership
Program

Another contract the executives reviewed was the Titan Readership Program. A partnership between OSA and the Provost’s office allows UWO students and staff to pick up copies of USA Today, the Oshkosh Northwestern and the New York Times for free. This program was briefly suspended because there was a problem with many of these papers going missing by people outside of the University, but it has now resumed.
To help combat the missing newspaper issues, the executives decided to decrease the numbers of papers in circulation, as well as keeping the New York Times in secure boxes in Reeve Union and Polk Library. Students and staff are still able to get the New York Times in these secure boxes by swiping their IDs. These simple changes will save OSA $31,000 each year. However, if there turns out to be an issue with the number of papers, the executives have said we can increase those numbers in the future.

DACA Resolution

The last major thing OSA has been up to was a resolution about DACA that was written by Senator Aaron Wojciechowski and I. Aaron and I wrote this resolution because we felt it was important for OSA to show support for all of the students who would be affected if DACA were to be rescinded; we wanted to make it clear that UW Oshkosh is an inclusive and safe place. There was a fair amount of debate about this issue in the senate, but it ultimately did end up passing. A powerful moment that came indirectly from this debate was the unanimous vote to amend the resolution to include the action item of sending the resolution to our elected officials in the state and national government.
While it may seem like a small thing, it was important because everyone, even the senators who voted against the resolution, realized we could make a difference by voicing our concerns to our elected leaders. I want to thank the OSA Assembly and Senate, the Student Organization of Latinos, Benito Cruz and the rest of the students who showed up to Senate and Assembly for their dedication, healthy debate and hard work.