Many clubs on campus are funded through segregated fees in students’ tuition. Those fees are distributed by our very own Student Senate. However, a UW-System policy could change that, taking away a vital power our Senate has, which makes its existence worthwhile. Taking that power away would be damaging to students and student governments across the UW-System.

Last week, students at UW-Madison protested a potential policy that the UW-System Board of Regents is working on that would alter the distribution of segregated fees on campuses, according to a Daily Cardinal article.

The proposal would remove student ability to distribute the fees on their campuses. The plan, though not finalized yet, is detrimental to student governments’ purpose and even more detrimental to the forum for student input that Student Senate creates.

The distribution of segregated fees is Senate’s only tangible power. Taking that away would be similar to taking budgeting power away from state legislators – it would make our student governing body pointless. They would only have the ability to make internal changes and unenforceable recommendations to university officials.

We would also potentially lose an open forum for student input. Not many students voice their concerns to Student Senate. But if administrators were in charge of distributing fees, they would not be required to listen to students, since they are not elected officials.

If System administrators fear student governments throughout the System would make unwise decisions with the money, they need to look at their own miscalculated decisions, such as the RA Bible study policy or employing sex offenders on campuses.

Student governments are vital to the distribution of segregated fees; taking them out of the process is wrong, and officials better have a compelling interest behind doing so.