Impact of COVID-19 on the University of Wisconsin- Parkside’s Student Government
By: Jada Peters, Matthew Beyer, and Karolina Dryndak
The University of Wisconsin- Parkside has been greatly obstructed by the current spread of the COVID-19. This has affected around 4000+ students and has caused them to hit a huge deficit. Also, there are over 400 organizations that have been affected as well, one of which is the Parkside Student Government, also known as PSG. Being that there is a lot that they do, there have been a handful of challenges, especially during this time.
This organization consists of an executive board and senate, which in total is about 30 members. Meetings are held weekly and everyone works together to make changes on campus. They meet with other UW college student representatives, answer students’ questions, partner with various groups, plan events, make changes to the constitution and bylaws, and much more.
In late April, PSG held elections. They were in the process of looking for an entirely new Executive board, as well as new senators, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this process was not easy. Anmol Patel, past Vice President, and Annette Copado, current President, both spoke on some of their challenges and solutions.
“The goal of Student Government is to make the campus a better place for students…” says Patel. She is a senior this year and is majoring in Biology. Patel has been in PSG for all 4 years of her experience at Parkside. She started as a Secretary and made her way to the Vice President position. She enjoyed working with other UW colleges to pass various resolutions in an attempt to create an enhanced environment for students.
“Each semester we have a new senate, we also had ideas to make student government more involved by sitting on the bridge more to figure out the concerns for students and discuss concerns with the Parkside Police Station, and it all got canceled,” says Patel.
The pandemic has pushed all of PSG’s events and ideas back. One particular event that was especially difficult to hold during this time were elections.
“There were a lot of people running for President that we never saw in Student Government before,” explains Patel.
If an unknowledgeable individual won the president’s seat, PSG wouldn’t know how well they’d run the group. The majority of the executive board is graduating, therefore, no one would be able to help this person reach the campus effectively.
By not being on campus, there was ultimately no way of campaigning, other than online. Students who were running for positions had to get creative and think of ways to reach out to Parkside students. With this comes difficulty.
Normally, all candidates would have to get a specific amount of signatures from Parkside students to be considered an official candidate, according to Patel. The administration decided to allow students to run without becoming official due to being online. This led to a student running for the position of President as a joke, which affected the overall professionalism of PSG.
“The goal of the Student Government is to… make the overall campus a safe and comfortable place for everyone” according to Annette Copado.
Copado is a Sophomore, majoring in Criminal Justice, with a minor in Sociology. She has been in Student Government since high school and this semester, she was appointed the 2020–21 PSG President. Being one of the youngest appointed presidents, Copado is making it her priority to be known around campus.
Copado wants to make a lot of changes on campus and has a lot of ideas on how to make those changes happen. One of her goals is to have a more active Senate.
One challenge Copado faced in her campaign is that she is only a Sophomore, and the other individuals who were running against her were upperclassmen, many of which had been involved longer than her, along with higher positions.
When it comes to her campaign, Copado did her best. She created an Instagram account, where she followed many active Parkside students and organizations. It was filled with pictures of her and her running mate, along with biographies, goals, and reasons why they should be representatives.
“There is still a possibility that campus might still be closed next Fall, and that Student Government would have to continue to meet online,” says Copado.
It’s sad to see our community so overwhelmed by what is going on in the world. Yet, it’s also substantial to see what alternatives we have implemented to create greater outcomes.
It was necessary to carry on with elections online to have an executive board, and a senate over summer, to prepare for next semester. With that being said, they have filled all executive board positions, along with most senate positions, so that they can meet throughout the summer.
PSG is currently meeting on WebEx every week, and keeping in-touch daily to discuss ideas.
If you have any questions or would like to become a senator, please reach out to either Annette Copado (current President), at copad001@rangers.uwp.edu, or Karolina Dryndak (current Vice President), at drynd001@rangers.uwp.edu.
