For Immediate Release:

April 15, 2014

UW-MILWAUKEE STUDENTS ORGANIZE UNDER NEW UWM STUDENT ASSOCIATION WITH

1300+ SIGNATURES AND 98% APPROVAL OF NEW CONSTITUTION

MILWAUKEE, WI: Organizers of a new UWM student government announced today that the students of

UWM have organized under a new UWM Student Association. Last week an online referendum was held,

with 98 percent of students voting for a new constitution, and over 96 percent voting to reject the de facto

Board of Trustees student government and the discriminatory structure they proposed. Said Taylor Scott on behalf of the organizers, This is one more step forward in students fight to take back their rights.

The referendum is part of an organizing process begun earlier this month when over 5% of the student

body signed petitions calling for reorganizing the UWM Student Association under stronger student control.

Last May, outgoing UWM Chancellor Michael Lovell refused to recognize the then-elected student

government, and oversaw development of a replacement government that critics called illegal and a

puppet of the administration. The petition this April called for rejecting that student government and

starting again. The new student-written UWM Student Association Constitution provides that it became

effective as the result of the petition drive unless it failed to pass a subsequent up-or-down vote. The

success of the referendum now makes it the official law under which students are organized to exercise

their collective powers under state law.

The referendum began at the start of Sunday April 6 and ran for precisely one week. It was organized and

tabulated by Paul McNally, whom the students petitioned to serve as interim election commissioner.

McNally, now a senior lecturer at UWM, served as the Student Associations chief election commissioner in the 1990s and was selected because of the strong reputation of the elections he oversaw as fair. McNallys report shows 147 verified votes for the constitution and only 3 against.

According to Taylor, the low turnout was disappointing, but should not affect the credibility of the result.

The illegal student government backed by the Chancellor had a referendum in January for their anti-student Constitution. You had a couple dozen students recruited by the administration and given titles,

offices, pay, and told this was a good thing. They were given use of student fee monies and all the

resources of the university. They emailed the voting link and a seven-minute propaganda video to 24,000

students, and still only got a one percent turnout. In contrast, we requested an official announcement of the

election but were refused by the Chancellor. We did everything with our own supporters. Our fliers and

public notices kept being taken down from public notice bulletin boards around the Board of Trustees offices; we were told we could not make announcements in classes or resource centers. Between the

petition and this result, weve demonstrated stronger student support. Yet, the extralegal Board of Trustees d/b/a Student Association is moving forward with its elections this week April 15th-17th, notwithstanding the superior number of students organizing in opposition. An attached demand to cease

and desist has been issued.

The elections of the newly-organized UWM Student Association will take place April 29th-May 1st. (The

elections public notice is attached also with the complete timeline and links to all materials necessary for students to run.) Organizers of the referendum say they will demand their right to all the powers and

resources belonging to the legitimate student government, but legal action may be required to compel this.

###

Framers of the New UWM Student Association Constitution:

M. Samir Siddique (Siddique@uwm.edu)

Taylor Q. Scott (Tqscott@uwm.edu)

Leyton E. Schiebel (Leyton@uwm.edu)

Emma J. Borkowski (Borkow26@uwm.edu)

UWM STUDENT ASSOCIATION

PUBLIC NOTICE of ELECTIONS

This is a public notice of UWM Student Association 2014-2015 Elections open to

ALL UWM STUDENTS.

After over 5% of the student body signed petitions organizing under a new UWM Student

Association and 98% of students voting in a subsequent referendum approved a new student-

written UWM Student Association Constitution, that Constitution is immediately in effect as of

Monday April 14th

, 2014.

As such, the elections process for the new UWM Student Association has started, the timeline is

below:

April 15th: Signature Nomination forms available.

They can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/UWMSANominationSheet

April 22nd: Signature Nomination forms due to the IEC no later than 4:30p.m. EMS E338.

April 28th or earlier: Candidates list for ballot publicly posted.

April 29th May 1st: UWM SA Elections (ballots available by email or publicly posted link)

The UWM Student Association 2014-2015 Elections campaign rules can be found in the new

UWM Student Association Constitution: http://tinyurl.com/UWMSAConstitution AND in the

amended IEC Bylaws: http://tinyurl.com/IECBylaws

In addition to the President/Vice President positions, the following Senate seats are up for

election: 7 At-Large, 8 Letter and Sciences, 3 Business, 2 Health Sciences, 1 Education, 1 Arts, 1

Engineering and Applied Science, 1 Social Welfare, 1 Nursing, 1 Information Studies, 1

Architecture and Urban Planning, 4 Graduate; and 4 Freshmen-Standing (half terms ending

November 30, 2014)

If you have any questions about the process please email Independent Election Commissioner,

Senior Lecturer of Computer Science Paul McNally (macatck@uwm.edu).

Framers of the New UWM SA Constitution:

M. Samir Siddique (Siddique@uwm.edu) Taylor Q. Scott (Tqscott@uwm.edu) Leyton E. Schiebel (Leyton@uwm.edu) Emma J. Borkowski (Borkow26@uwm.edu)

Gary Grass Attorney at Law

The Dudley, 2132 North Thirty-Third Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208

(414) 447-8369

April 15, 2014

BY U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL

BlytheCJ@DOJ.STATE.WI.US

Assistant Attorney General Christopher Blythe

Wisconsin Department of Justice

Madison, WI 53707-7857

Re: UWM Student Association,

Demand to Cease and Desist

Dear Attorney Blythe:

I am writing to you based on my understanding that you represent the de facto

student government at UW-Milwaukee, which sometimes calls itself the Board of Trustees.

As I noted in my correspondence with the Governor on April 10, I represent a

group of UW-Milwaukee students who regard that body, instituted under Chancellor

Lovells guidance, as illegitimate and without legal authority. My clients organized and gathered more than 1300 students support for the rejection of the de facto student government and for the creation of a new student government under a new constitution

they authored. Since that correspondence, a campus-wide referendum was held in which

my clients position was supported by the vast majority of voters. My clients have therefore now established themselves as the legitimate student government organization

on campus.

My clients therefore demand that the Board of Trustees, its agents, and associated bodies, henceforth desist from acting in any manner that would compromise

any of the rights or interests of the legal student government. This includes holding out

the Board of Trustees grouping as the sole or legitimate student government, implying by omission that it is so, or attempting to exercise powers belonging solely to the

legitimate student government, such as appointing students to shared governance

committees or allocating or expending student segregated fees. Failure to comply may

result in legal action.

Please pass this message along. If I am mistaken and you do not represent these

students, please let me know as soon as possible so that I may contact them directly.

Yours appreciatively,

Gary Grass

No. 1035738

gg

Gary Grass Attorney at Law

The Dudley, 2132 North Thirty-Third Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208

(414) 447-8369

cc: Assistant Attorney General Christopher Blythe Wisconsin Department of Justice Madison, WI 53707-7857

BlytheCJ@DOJ.STATE.WI.US

April 10, 2014

BY U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL

govgeneral@wisconsin.gov

Office of Governor Scott Walker

115 East Capitol

Madison, WI 53702

Re: UWM Student Association

Dear Governor:

I represent a constellation of UW-Milwaukee students who regard the Board of

Trustees student government instituted under Chancellor Lovells guidance as illegitimate and

without legal authority. My clients organized and gathered more than 1300 students support for

the rejection of the de facto student government and for the creation of a new student government

under a new constitution they authored.

I am writing to secure your assent to represent them collectively. My clients argue that

they represent the legal student government organization under section 36.09(5) of the Wisconsin

Statutes. As such they may be regarded as an agency of the executive branch. See Kaye v.

Regents, 158 Wis. 2d 664, 463 N.W.2d 398 (Ct. App. 1990). If so, then pursuant to section

20.930 of the Statutes, gubernatorial approval is needed for my employment to extend to

representing them in their official capacity.

The Department of Justice, representing the Regents and the UWM Administration, has

taken the position in Siddique v. Regents, Milwaukee County Case No. 14-CV- 386, that my

clients claims are without merit. Obviously, the Attorney General has a conflict and cannot

satisfy my clients right to representation. The state has taken the general posture that my clients

are not the student government and section 20.930 would not apply to them. Hence I believe any

objection to my representing these students has already been disclaimed and if I do not hear from

you, I will assume your view is that gubernatorial permission is not denied but simply deemed

redundant. Nevertheless, in an abundance of caution, I am seeking a letter from your office

assuring I have your consent to represent disaffected UWM students who proclaim themselves a

new student government.

Yours appreciatively,

Gary Grass

No. 1035738

gg

UWM SA Press Release - 4-15-14UWM STUDENT ASSOCIATION ELECTIONS PUBLIC NOTICEDemand to Cease and Desist - 4 15 14Demand to Cease and Desist - blythe 4 15 14Gubernatorial Request - blythe-walker 4 10 14