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New rules in place for student orgs
Groups now required to have an advisor
By Kevin Lessmiller
“Every student organization needs to have an advisor” – UWM Associate Dean of Students Tom McGinnity
New requirements implemented by the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Student Activities Office (SAO) state that, among other policies, campus student organizations must have a faculty advisor.
The requirements were first passed by the UW System Board of Regents in December 2007 with UW System Policy F50. An SAO update said that student organizations must “identify a faculty or staff advisor employed by UWM”.
F50 also says that student organizations must contain at least four members, and at least ¾ of them must be enrolled for a minimum of three credits per semester.
The groups must also be organized on a “not-for-profit” basis, which is specified as not having the same definition as is used for state or federal tax reasons. This means that registering as a student organization doesn’t automatically qualify the group for state or federal tax exemption.
Technically advisors were required by student organizations during the spring 2008 semester, said UWM Associate Dean of Students Tom McGinnity, but it would have been difficult to enforce the policy, and to check that all student organizations had an advisor, immediately in the middle of the school year.
McGinnity said UWM is different in the sense that its student organizations were not required to have an advisor before the approval of Policy F50, while many other UW System schools were.
“Every student organization needs to have an advisor,” he said in response whether or not the UWM Student Association would be required to obtain an advisor as well.
There were 90-100 advisors before the new requirements, according to McGinnity, and additional staff may be hired because of UW System Policy F50.
The UW System policy also states that individual UW System institutions “may establish additional requirements for official recognition” of campus student organizations, as long as they are consist with the Board of Regents-adopted policy.
And, according to the SAO update, organizations must identify at least four UWM students enrolled as atleast half-time students, defined as a minimum of six credits for undergraduates and four for graduate students.
When asked what will happen if student organizations can’t obtain an advisor, or can’t find one that is willing to work with them, McGinnity said that issue will not be a problem.
“We’ll [SAO] be working with student orgs to help them find an advisor,” he said.
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