Check out the Student Senate Web page and Ray French's biography.

Read more about Senate's budget responsibilities in The Spectator. 

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Primary duty of student government to set budget
Many unaware of Student Senate's influence at UW-Eau Claire

By Emily Rae Hartwig
UW-Eau Claire Public Affairs Reporting Student
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007

“Student Senate isn’t sexy.”

So says senior Ray French, student body president, explaining that the governing body at UW-Eau Claire is not especially appealing for several reasons: It doesn’t force students to pay attention to its activities, because many students don’t see a direct effect on them. Members sift through hours of budget information and adhere to formal parliamentary procedure.

And student senators don’t garner much press attention, as proven by the short, weekly Senate stories in The Spectator that are rarely among the most-read on the Web site.

But French said despite this, Student Senate plays an important role at UW-Eau Claire. Its state-mandated duties include representing students to university and UW-System administration and distributing $2.9 million in student fees.

“It’s our job to represent what students want and what their interests are,” he said.
Still, many students are only vaguely aware of Senate’s influence, and many don’t know its most important function – to allocate student funds.

Senior Erik Tasker has been around campus for four years but didn’t vote in a Student Senate election until last spring, when he heard about it in a class.

“(Senate has) never really affected me in that big of a way that I feel I need to influence their decision-making,” Tasker said.

Political science professor Geoff Peterson said this is a common outlook on campus.

“(Students) often don’t think that Senate does anything relevant to them,” Peterson said.

Out of all its functions, French said the Senate’s primary duty is to allocate student segregated fees. This year, Senate had $2.9 million to divide. This money goes toward bodies such as Health Services, the Forum and Artists’ Series, University Recreation and Athletics and the music department, as well as campus publications such as NOTA and the Flipside.

The body is also responsible for Information Technology fees, which funds non-instrumental technology, such as computer labs, and differential tuition, which support educational projects beyond classroom instruction, such as collaborative research and capstone courses.

Tasker said he wasn’t aware of the amount of money Senate allocates each year. But all this funding is where Senate’s real significance lies, Peterson said.

“Money is power,” he said. “The relevance of Senate is directly proportional to its willingness to utilize the budge as a policy tool.”

This is true for all legislatures, he said – any governing body’s authority is determined by how they use the budget. Naturally, he said, a government won’t attract much attention if it keeps the same budget as last year.

Theoretically, he said, Student Senate could cut something like the FYE classes – but they’d rarely do anything so drastic.

While the budget process is pretty well-known on campus, senator and junior Elizabeth Lorenz, Student Services Commission director, said most students aren’t aware of the details that Senate takes care of.

For example, she said senators are working to increase access for people in wheelchairs. This will only affect a handful of students, she said, but will matter to those who are now at a disadvantage.

“We don’t exactly do things the general student body would be interested in,” French agreed. “It’s difficult to see what we do.”

Sophomores Lauren Schaus and Matt Plier said Senate seems to be a quiet organization, since they don’t hear much about it.

“I assume they do a lot,” Schaus said.

Plier said he was aware of the budget process, since he knows the funding affects the Singing Statesmen, of which is he a member.

But senior and long-time senator Jacob Boer said senators don’t make as many recommendations as they should. He attributes this to youth and a fear of asserting themselves by challenging professionals.

“We’re just waiting potential,” said Boer, explaining that Senate could garner more press attention and student interest if it made more drastic changes instead of arguing small matters.
If issues come up that concern students, he said, “we are the proper outlet.”

The fact that Student Senate isn’t doing anything to attract significant attention from students means they must be keeping the status quo, Peterson said.

Boer agreed, adding that if Senate doesn’t appear to be doing much, this could either mean “life is good” or the body is somehow being irresponsible. He said he isn’t sure which direction the current administration leans.

Senator and junior Emily Mattheisen, director of Student Life and Diversity, said that most students aren’t get concerned unless it affects them directly – even then, she added, it can be difficult to get them motivated and involved.

“It’d be really great if more people utilized us as a resource,” Mattheisen said.

Plier and Schaus said they haven’t had any concerns to bring before Senate since they’ve been students, though they did vote in the spring election. They said they voted because they know French personally.

French said university leaders respect Senate, and the student representatives enjoy a “good working relationship” with administrators. This makes UW-Eau Claire’s student government one of the most influential in the UW System, he said.

“There’s just a lot of trust that is built up over the years and it’s our responsibility to make sure that trust is never broken, but that we continue to build it,” French said.

Despite the fact that many students aren’t aware of Student Senate’s responsibilities, Schaus said she can see why it’s important.

“(Senate is) one of the few ways students can have their input,” she said.

And senators like French said they want students to take advantage of this potential, since the purpose of Senate is to serve the student body.

“Students aren’t left out of change at the university unless they choose to be.”