Nontraditional students will be able to provide unique opinions and ideas on issues pertaining to the UW System.

Gov. Jim Doyle recently signed a bill that allows for a nontraditional university student to sit on the University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents. This is an excellent move on the System’s part.

The Board of Regents, which is made up of 17 people who have various ties to the community, is responsible for decisions that affect state universities all over Wisconsin. With the passing of Senate Bill 121, there are now two students on the Board of Regents.

Considering that the board is responsible for decisions that affect students directly, it is excellent that there are now two students that are able to be active in the decisions made.

It is even better that one of them is a nontraditional student. The bill itself calls for "at least 24 years old and represents the views of nontraditional students, such as those who are employed or who are parents."

I love nontraditional students. They are the students in my classes who always have interesting things to say and are always willing to participate in class. They are paying for their education while balancing careers and families. This makes them much less likely to waste the opportunity of going to college.

I went to college right out of high school because that is what I was supposed to do. I know that going to college is an opportunity that not everyone has, but since it was expected of me, I never realized the full extent of it.

Nontraditional students are much more aware of this. They understand how tough it is to pay for school and how hard it is to juggle the real world outside of it. These views can only have positive effects on the decisions that the Board of Regents makes.

Nontraditional students will be able to provide unique opinions and ideas on issues pertaining to the UW System. The Board of Regents makes important decisions regarding tuition and even how diplomas look.

A nontraditional student who is well aware of the changing climate of today’s students will be able to bring up and address things that other members of the board may not have previously thought about. Especially considering the board is made up of a mix of business owners and private citizens who may not be very involved in campus life, whereas students are able to provide first-hand accounts and solutions for campus-related issues.

We, as students in the UW system, are incredibly lucky to have two student voices involved in important decisions that affect our educations. Even more so that one of the students representing us is a nontraditional student. Marquette University’s equivalent to UW’s Board of Regents does not have any students, which means none of the students have a voice in important decisions regarding their campus.

I applaud the UW System and Gov. Doyle for recognizing the importance of student voices, traditional or not.

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