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For Immediate Release: January 15, 2014 STUDENT RIGHTS ADVOCATES FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST UW-MILWAUKEE ADMINISTRATION — LAWSUIT STEMS FROM ACTIONS TAKEN BY UWM ADMINISTRATION AGAINST STUDENT SHARED GOVERNANCE — MILWAUKEE, WI: Yesterday, student advocates Taylor Q. Scott and M. Samir Siddique filed a complaint against the UWM Administration, and other Defendants, in Milwaukee County Circuit Court (Siddique, Scott v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, et al. — 14CV000386). The complaint requests various reliefs from the court, and is brought forth on the basic allegation that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Administration exercised extralegal interference in their affirmative action to not recognize the 2013-2014 UWM Student Association Elections, when they have no legal right to do so. The Student Association is the official representative government of students at UWM under Wis. Stat. §36.09(5). Since June 1, 2013 the UWM Student Association has been extralegally under the administration of the University Student Court and it’s created ’Board of Trustees’ with oversight by the UWM Administration by virtue of the their decision to “not recognize” the student elections; the subsequent affect being a coercive influence over the University Student Court and it’s created ’Board of Trustees’. It seems that during this time UWM Administration has had continuous influence over, and interference in, actions by the ’Board of Trustees’ directly, and indirectly through the Student Association Professional Staff (SAPS) Office, an office which the UWM Student Association Senate funded at a $0 allocation in student segregated university fees (SUF) last year. Inexplicably, SAPS continues to be funded by student dollars. It seems that the UWM Administration decided to change and alter the students’ allocations, without informing students of such action, in-violation of administrative policy and statute. Additionally, recent institutional changes include the administration of the SUF-funded, student-created UWM Campus Activities Board (CAB) being ceded to the Center For Student Involvement, which is within the UWM Division of Student Affairs. CAB plans large-scale campus-wide events and activities, and utilizes student fees to pay for these events. After the misleading influence of the UWM Administration, on Sunday January 19th, the Board of Trustees plans to vote to put forward a referendum, under false pretenses, on a new Student Association Constitution. The Administration-friendly Constitution would institutionalize many of the extralegal actions taken over the last several months and would cede numerous student rights to Administration. A summary of the concept of shared governance can be found at: http://asap-4-uwm.tumblr.com/sharedgovernance. An explanation of recent concerning events regarding shared governance at UWM can be found at: http://asap-4-uwm.tumblr.com/yourvoice. For any further information or inquiries please contact ASAP representative Taylor Scott at asap4uwm@gmail.com or visit: http://asap-4-uwm.tumblr.com/contactus. Previous ASAP press releases can be found at: http://asap-4-uwm.tumblr.com/pressreleases ### The ALLIANCE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING PROGRESS (ASAP) is a movement, currently active in the UW-Milwaukee campus community. ASAP has had a long history as a 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 w