The situation is so serious that there’s a lawsuit.

Lisa Kaiser of Express Milwaukee reported.

UWM Civil Rights Lawsuit Heads to Federal Court

The lawsuit brought by UW-Milwaukee student leaders is now a federal case.
The students argue that the administration of then-Chancellor Michael Lovell violated the University of Wisconsin System’s core value of shared governance, which is enshrined in state statutes and guarantees student participation in campus affairs, specifically over how student segregated fees are used.

Annually, UWM students pay more than $25 million in segregated fees in addition to their tuition. This semester, a full-time student will pay $649 in segregated fees, which are supposed to be allocated by the democratically elected student government for student activities.

Last semester, that $649 covered $141 for student union operations, $138 for athletics, $113 for health and medical care and smaller disbursements for other activities.

In the lawsuit, originally filed in circuit court, the students allege that the administration disregarded validly elected student government leaders who didn’t support the administration’s agenda, then appointed a sympathetic board of trustees that took control of the budget and drafted a new constitution, which passed with less than 500 votes cast of a possible 28,000.

The students claim that as a result of those actions, the administration has more say in student affairs and has too much sway over the allocation of students’ segregated fees.

Gary Grass, the attorney representing the students, said that all UWM students, not just those involved in student government, are impacted by the administration’s meddling.