The Advance-Titan 4/6/2017

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T h e

ADVANCE- T TheAdvanceTitan

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@advancetitan

atitan@uwosh.edu

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ITAN

INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN OSHKOSH VOL. 123, NO. 20

April 6, 2017

WELLS FIRES BACK AT UW SYSTEM SUIT Former chancellor says in court filing he did not violate the state law or W policy when he transferred funds to the WO Foundation to support five building pro ects

by Alex Nemec nemeca14@uwosh.edu Former Chancellor Richard Wells did not violate the state constitution or exceed his authority when he moved money to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Foundation, his lawyer argued in a ednesday court filing. “Wells did not convert or conspire to convert or misappropriate any funds of the UW-Oshkosh, the UWS or the State of Wisconsin,” the document stated. Wells and former Vice Chancellor Thomas Sonnleitner are accused of illegally transferring more than $ 11 million in funds between the University and the

UWO Foundation. The funds were used to finance five projects, including two biodigesters and the Alumni Welcome and Conference Center. They are also accused of signing comfort letters that bind the University to cover any debt on these projects if the Foundation defaulted, the UWS stated in a Jan. 19 lawsuit. Wells’ lawyer Raymond Dall’Osto said in February that Wells and Sonnleitner have done their best to improve UWO. Wells stated in the document he did not violate the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin. In the document, Wells stated that he had a wide array of powers granted to him as chancellor.

“[The Board of Regents] shall delegate to each chancellor the necessary authority for the administration and operation of the institution within policies and guidelines established by the board,” the document said the state statute reads. Wells said he was acting within the scope of his employment. “Wells’ actions as Chancellor and chief administrative officer of - sh osh...were undertaken with actual authority derived from the Board, the relevant statutes, administrative code provisions, policies, practices and procedures of the [UWS], the doctrine of agency and the common law,” the document stated.

In the document, Wells stated some matters were presented time to time to members of the Board of Regents and the UWS vice president for finance, who also served on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Foundation board. “The Vice-President of Finance and members of the Board regularly interacted with Wells, and on some occasions, members of the Foundation board were aware of the various projects and initiatives eing collaboratively pursued by UW-Oshkosh and the Foundation,” the document stated. According to the document, ells’ actions “were ratified and tolerated by the Board.”

Wells said in the document he was not aware of any UWS best practices or guidelines for dealing with foundations, and said he wasn’t provided training on doing so. “The UWS did not have in place a clear, concise set of rules, best practices, guidelines and policies for university and affiliated foundation colla oration on projects and initiatives, which were applicable to UW-Oshkosh, nor were such made known to Wells,” the document stated. The document stated while the UWS has provided some guidelines for the UW-Madison Foundation, those guidelines haven’t been laid out for other

Boothe vetoes move of allocable seg fee funds by Alex Nemec nemeca14@uwosh.edu

ALICIA KAHL/ADVANCE-TITAN

Senior Peter Nordel jumps and prepares to spike the ball against UW-Whitewater. Read the article on A6.

Attorney discusses marijuana laws by Collin Goeman goemac32@uwosh.edu arijuana-related law attorney oe Spencer discussed the history and current state of marijuana law on a national and state level as a part of UWO Speaker Series, at Reeve Memorial Union on Thursday. Spencer is the principal attorney at his law office in verett, A, where he works with growers looking for licenses as well as out-of-state criminal cases. Spencer discussed the details of his wor with marijuana law in his lecture as well as the history ehind marijuana becoming illegal in the United States. “Many people don’t know the history of marijuana ecoming illegal and the reasons behind it,” Spencer said. In his presentation, Spencer said the illegali ation of marijuana was heavily due to the fear of counter-culture during President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. “Nixon knew the youth and African-American people at the time held a powerful part of the vote, so arresting them for drug charges would be an effective way of silencing them,” Spencer said. Spencer said giving these talks is

important because this issue is so important in today’s political climate. “I like speaking at colleges because I have a certain amount of knowledge on this from doing my work for so long, and I have information many people don’t know,” Spencer said. “I think it’s important for everyone to have this information and make their own decisions on the issue.” Spencer said he isn’t trying to sway people in his lectures ut just state the facts. “In this talk, I’m not trying to advocate or convince people what to believe,” Spencer said. “ really just li e to share what I do and let you decide for yourself.” UWO student Hunter Armstrong said the discussion helped him understand the details of how legalizing marijuana would wor if it happened in Wisconsin. “It’s really not something simple that can happen and that for a major law like this to be changed you have to get a majority of your state ehind it.” Armstrong said. Armstrong said this is a su ject he follows closely, so having someone like Spencer come to campus was something he enjoyed seeing. “I’m personally invested in the mat-

ter,” Armstrong said. “I would like to see things li e medical marijuana legalized, so hearing Mr. Spencer speak was very informative for me.” Speaker Series committee member Luke Johnson said he was extremely excited to have Spencer speak on campus. “We thought that Moe would be a good fit here in sh osh ecause it’s a controversial issue, and it’s something that would provoke a lot of conversation on campus.” Johnson said. Johnson said a su ject li e this one is important for students to understand due to its role in the political world today. “Whether you stand on the side of legalization or not, I feel that a lot of sh osh students would enefit from that type of conversation,” Johnson said. “Seeing that it’s such a big topic in both the United States and around the world right now.” Spencer said he began speaking at universities almost by chance, but now it’s an important part of what he does. “ just started spea ing at panels efore I was asked to come speak at a school,” Spencer said. “Now I speak at schools all over the country, and I love sharing my work.”

UWS schools. “There appear to have been no formal, detailed state-wide guidelines for UWS chancellors in the time period when Wells served as chancellor,” Wells said in the document. According to the document, the comfort letters were not guarantees, as alleged in the board’s complaint and are not legally enforceable against the state of Wisconsin. “A comfort instrument is normally given by a “third party” to assure a party to a transaction regarding some element of value or credit,” the document said, stating case law. “They are generally viewed as not creating any legally enforceable obligations.”

Oshkosh Student Association President Austyn Boothe vetoed a resolution, passed by OSA Senate and Assembly, to reclassify some allocable seg fees to non-allocable fees, on Wednesday. Boothe said she and Chair of Allocations Michael Riley met over the weekend and agreed the resolution would increase the amount of students that would opt out of paying allocable fees if given the option, ultimately determining her decision to veto the resolution. “I am not in favor of this resolution primarily because students’ voices are not required to be listened to as they are now, if these services are moved over to non-allocable,” Boothe said. The OSA Senate and Assembly passed the resolution to move some of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s allocable segregated fees to being non-allocable on March 27 and 28 , in response to Walker’s idea in his budget to make allocable seg fees optional. Riley said allocable segregated fees can be used by students, while non-allocable segregated fees are bigger projects. “ on-alloca le seg fees are just for igger projects, li e the ec lex would’ve een financed y non-allocable,” Riley said. “Then allocable is the money that is spent on students directly. If you have a club and want to go compete at something then you can utilize those funds.” Boothe said she was con icted on whether or not she wanted to sign the resolution because of two reservations she had, including funding getting cut from OSA services, since a lot of those services are being moved over. “In the future, if student body presidents become extremely critical of the University or extremely critical of administrators or the chancellor themselves, they might fear their funding getting cut,” Boothe said. “So, student legal service has become a reference for OSA presidents… about what the University is doing; fears that that advice could be removed if it becomes used to be critical of the University.” Riley said he thinks a divide would form on campus between students who saw the opportunities clubs bring and opted in to allocable fees and those students who came to college solely for academics. “ t would e difficult to have an inclusive campus if people who are not paying their fees would not be able to take advantage of all the things campus has to offer,” Riley said. Jean Kwaterski, advisor of the Segregated Fees Committee, said the campus would change if the segregated fees that go toward groups went away and would depend on how it’s implemented. “I’m hoping that the University has the ability to decide how it is implemented, and that the G overnor or Legislature doesn’t tell us how to do it,” Kwaterski said. “I’m hoping that there can be a deadline date by which students will need to opt out, so we can determine how much money is available for the year.” Boothe said she was worried about unstable funding if the services being

moved to non-allocable were moved, which could lead to all of those services not being offered at all. Junior G reta Hammond said she thinks the opt-out option being offered in G ov. Scott Walker’s budget is a good idea because she doesn’t think students should have to pay those fees, but wouldn’t opt out herself. “ just thin that those groups are important to the campus community,” Hammond said. Student groups are necessary on campus in order to have a campus community that’s connected, Boothe said. “[Student groups] can make students more successful throughout college,” Boothe said. “There is a fear that if there is less funding for that we are going to have less successful students. n college you learn just as much outside of the classroom as you do in the classroom.” The 160 student organizations on campus are crucial to the college experience, Riley said. “Personally, I still wouldn’t probably be here if it weren’t for organizations and clubs where I got to meet people with similar interests and goals and pursuits,” Riley said. Boothe said if Walker’s budget does pass and allocable fees become optional and students do not pay them, then those students wouldn’t be able to use those services funded by allocable fees, which could cause an issue for the campus to figure out who is allowed to use the services. “That’s a huge administrative issue on this campus,” Boothe said. “Does that mean IDs have to be scanned to go into a club meeting? Does that mean if you want to go to Bye G osh Fest, which is an allocable fee, do they have to have a list of who can and can’t get in? So that’s probably going to e a financial urden on the University.” Boothe said another fear she had with opting in or out of segregated fees has to deal with the Supreme Court case Board of Regents of the University Wisconsin System vs. Southworth. This case states that if there are mandatory fees at a University, they must remain viewpoint neutral. The key words in Southworth are “mandatory fee.” If there is an opt out, it’s no longer mandatory, and people don’t have to be viewpoint neutral, Boothe said. “A lot of students absolutely love Bye G osh Fest so maybe if we have such little funding and everybody wants Bye G osh Fest, we use all of our funding for Bye G osh Fest and nobody else gets anything,” Boothe said. “Or [maybe] people with different ideologies may sway funding there.” Kwaterski said the University would need to determine a way to exclude students who do not pay the fee from using the allocable fee funded services. “If a student doesn’t pay the allocable fee, they shouldn’t be allowed to sign up for an intramurals team or be part of a segregated-fee-funded student organization,” Kwaterski said. “Overall, though, if students choose to opt out of the allocable portion of the fee, there will be less money available to fund OSA, intramurals, the G reen Fund and student organizations.”


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