Every day the pages of this paper are graced by stories about such issues as increases in tuition, the availability of on-campus parking and the distribution of basketball tickets. Both liberals and conservatives on this campus complain about student life and the way administrative decisions are made here. And yet, many forget that ours is a campus on which students can participate actively in making the decisions that affect their day-to-day lives.

Only one state in the nation allows for students to share in the governance of their universities: Wisconsin. Here at Madison, the Shared Governance Committee of ASM deals primarily with exercising these rights guaranteed to students.

We at Shared Gov have helped to place hundreds of students on Faculty Senate committees, where they hold votes equal to those of chancellors and deans. We have lobbied state legislators to secure a link between increases in tuition and in financial aid. And we have met with important officials on campus to help protect student rights, most recently to get “Jump Around” back at Badger football games.

Whether you like the administration or hate the administration and whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Green, you must recognize that it’s better for decisions about students to be made by students rather than by insulated, isolated and political administrators at Bascom, however well-meaning they are.

There are, of course, disagreements between students as to what issues are important and what stands students should take on them. But it cannot be said that it is better for students to have those up on the hill who are 30-years removed from college making decisions about the issues that affect students every day.

Why this issue now? This week is Shared Governance Action Week, celebrated on UW campuses across the state. Shared Gov is spending this week meeting with such officials as the provost and the athletic director to expand student power and student-governance opportunities on this campus. We are asking questions, getting answers and demanding results for students. But regardless of the amount of work a few members of ASM might do, it is most important that more students get involved in making known their views about this campus and how their lives can be bettered.

When rights aren’t exercised, they’re lost. Students must continue to let administrators know that they recognize the rights they have under state statute 36.09(5) and that they will not sit idly by when students are excluded from decision-making. It is not that students need to fight with the chancellor and the dean of students, it is simply that students need to inform these decision-makers which issues students care about and that student views on these issues do matter.

The students on campus today are the leaders of tomorrow, and they are surely capable of doing more than planning parades and putting on dances; indeed, they must do more. When students are left out of the process, things like the massive course cuts that are now showing themselves are allowed to happen. When students are included, things like the increased availability of basketball tickets happen.

Many may be skeptical of getting involved with an ASM committee. There are those who say that ASM gets nothing done, and I don’t always disagree. But Shared Gov isn’t about making motions, writing statements and engaging in meaningless political rhetoric. Shared Gov is about finding areas where students are underrepresented and representing them. This campus exists not for professors or administrators or staff; it exists for the students who pay tuition and fees, and they must have a say in how it is run.

So come to one of our meetings (Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Red Gym), apply to be on a student-faculty committee, attend a meeting with a campus administrator, share in your governance. Dean Hong and Chancellor Wiley surely read the Herald and listen to on-campus griping, and those expressions of ideas are good. But it’s those who show up at the table who secure students’ rights and get things done, and it’s those students who take action who help make positive change for other students. Together, we are student power; we look forward to working with you.

Joseph Hiegel (jahiegel@ wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in political science and French. He is a member of the ASM Shared Governance Committee and a former ASM Student Council member.