Oshkosh Student Government (OSG) president and vice president candidates voiced the concerns about transparency and communication across UW Oshkosh, as well as mental health and student involvement during a debate between OSG’s candidates March 4.
The candidates also discussed concerns and expectations over the future of OSG and the university, addressing topics like the outsourcing of UWO’s University Books & More bookstore, the lack of communication between governance and increased student power.
The six candidate pairs, listed in president-vice president order, are: Athena Dedow and Nora Reljic, Aspyn Rafac and Elijah Plonsky, Bryce Rataczak and Marco Marchiando, Grant Luedtke and Eli Finn, Sandy Yanez Velasquez and Jesse Ramsey and Matt Caine and Alex Coleman.
Many of the candidates said they became interested in participating in student government because of recent changes and developments at UWO.
Luedtke said he was drawn in by the university’s financial situation, which he described as poor, as well as the fact that the university is considering whether to outsource the bookstore, a decision that was petitioned by students.
“[The bookstore] was kind of the tipping point,” he said. “The only reason why we even know about this is because the Advance-Titan covered it. The employees of the bookstore are afraid to speak up about the closing of it and had to put anonymous tips in the newspaper so that we, as students, would actually be aware of some of these things.”
Caine, who said he’s worked at the bookstore for six months now, said that he’s felt the effects of being left in the shadows. Having originally attended the UW Fond du Lac campus, which has since shut down, he said he wants to increase communication so that everyone knows what’s happening.
“There’s a lack of communication between students, staff, faculty and all executives,” he said. “Our goal with our campaign is to make sure that that communication is streamlined and efficient. … We’re going to reestablish student reliance and student support of shared governance, making sure that students are at the forefront of every decision that’s made on campus.”
The bookstore was also one of reasons why Plonsky became interested in running, he said, alongside the Rec Plex Dome (also called “the bubble”), which was slated to be taken down despite student protests and activism aiming to keep funding the more than $100,000-per-year sports facility.
“Currently, that structure is set to be taken down with no plan to replace it,” he said. “The bubble is a facility that’s used by student athletes here on campus, and ultimately I served on the Rec Plex task force, and I didn’t see the kind of change that I wanted to see. So I’m here trying to represent a new kind of change.”
Ramsey said that part of utilizing student government to its fullest power is consolidating student power, as student voices aren’t as impactful as they should be in the decisions on campus.
“Fundamentally, students are excluded from important decisions, when we are important stakeholders and we are the consumers if this university is a product,” he said.
He said that dispersed student power is one of the factors contributing to a lack of student say.
“That is why we are going to be advocating for student power to be combined through [the] Student Allocations Committee (SAC) and OSG being united,” Ramsey said. “We’re also going to be pushing for higher involvement in shared governance as well as codified student rights to organize, to express opinions inside and outside the classroom.”
Other candidates, including Dedow, Rafac, Plonsky and Luedtke pushed back against the idea of combining SAC and OSG.
Dedow said she wants to fix the fact that there’s always been communication issues between OSG and the student body, limiting students’ voices on campus.
“To mitigate this, we plan on marketing for open sign-up meetings as well as sending out monthly surveys for an opportunity for students to express their concerns about what they want and need to see on campus.”
Plonsky said that he wants to increase the number of seats in the senate, which he said hasn’t been full in years, as well as expedite the application process.
“This sheet of paper right here, I want it to be a quarter of the length,” he said, holding up a normal-sized sheet of printer paper. “I want your name, your major, your year in school and one sentence about why you want to join the senate.”
Coleman said that students need to be heard, and that requires efficient and focused communication so that students know what their rights are.
“I think establishing a line of communication that gives students the opportunity to speak with us, and then we’d be able to bring their ideas and their problems straight to both the senate and to the chancellor,” he said. “I think making students’ decisions heard instead of just focusing on what just the tiny bubble of what student government thinks should be done is insanely important for the advancement of UWO’s culture.”
Finn said that he wants to utilize the student senate to better connect with the needs of students, clubs and organizations on campus, including mental health.
“I think it’s absolutely crucial to utilize the senate to its fullest potential,” he said. “We can make sure that the members of the senate meet with clubs and organizations to make sure that the most urgent ideas and suggestions are brought forth. … I will champion policies that address needs from mental health resources to academic support and campus safety.”
A lot of the candidates focused on improving attitudes and mental health on campus.
Rataczak said that being more involved can improve our school pride, which shouldn’t be as low as it is.
“We don’t have a positive attitude around here,” he said. “Right now, we have very limited community and very limited school pride. Most of our sports teams are thriving and doing very well, and we just introduced a new marching band a few years ago. Our school pride should be going through the roof. … This can be changed, because we have lots of things we can improve on to make students more involved.”
Yanez Velasquez also said part of improving the attitude at UWO involves including students in the college experience through engagement.
“We want to make events for students to actually get out of their dorms and find a place for themselves.”
Mental health is also an area that can see improvement, Dedow said.
While UWO does provide counseling services, she said that students essentially have to schedule their appointments within the first two weeks of the semester, they’re oftentimes unable to get a spot to see a counselor.
“This is especially important as student mental health rates are not great,” she said. “And the fact that we’ve had multiple suicides take place here on campus over the past few years, this needs to be addressed.”
Dedow’s running mate, Reljic, suggested that more safety training needs to take place, because what currently exists is often poorly advertised and not up to par.
She said that a “safety week” should be held at the start of each semester, boasting different types of safety training each day, such as intruder drills, gun safety education, talks about sexual health and safety, assault and suicide prevention and party and alcohol education.
Marchiando said that resources need to be there when students need them.
Marco Marchiando talks about the need to meet students where they are
“There should be resources available for emergency situations where people are considering drastic actions,” he said. “There needs to be resources available to address that. In an emergency, it should be available right away.”More information on the candidates and their experience can be found at uwosh.edu/osg/election-candidates/.
