Letter to the editor

UW System wants extension of power

Students of River Falls, today there hangs above us a great menace to our rights. The Board of Regents, the body that decides all university law, is currently trying to change the rules so that we students can be punished for violating UW-System policy even if we did so off of cam- pus lands.

Say you are underage and are caught by River Falls police drinking at an off campus party -- not only will the cops fine you, but now the university is trying to give you a bill as well. Any violation of law, from jaywalking to murder, will soon be subject to university punishment, regardless of whether or not the crime happened on campus or off campus, in River Falls or out of the city, even potentially out of the Unities States.

There is no excuse or justification that the UW System or the Board of Regents can come up with that can even come close to making their attempts to subject us all to university policy anywhere near morally right.

This is a gross overstepping of their power and we as stu- dents need to react quickly and forcefully if we want to stop this. As you read this, the UW System is currently working to revise the documents known as Chapter XVII and XVIII of the UW System policy that details the extend of university power over students for misconduct. The revisions they are placing in these documents are what will allow them to do everything that I am warning you about. Please, tell Student Senate, tell the Chancellor, tell the Board of Regents, and tell every stu- dent that this is unacceptable.

I invite and urge you all to come to the weekly Student Senate meetings and share your voice on this or any other matter. We meet every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Willow River room of the University Center.

Mathew Dale
Student Senate