A rally on February 29 comprised of over 200 students, faculty, administration and government officials voiced their opinion against a bill called SB 275, which passed the Senate out of committee by a 4-3 Republican party line. The bill proposes changes to the MATC Board specifically reorganizing how the board is to be appointed as well as how it will be represented.
The rally took place at the downtown campus in the S-building. Students participated from all three floors of the atrium railings as well on the main floor.
Those that attended the rally expressed concern with the retraction of minority representation by the new proposals.
Students spoke about the importance of cultural diversity and how the new proposal would produce more representation from an all white suburban re-districting.
Fidel Garcia, President of the Latin Student Organization at the downtown campus said, “Students that are Hispanic are concerned that these proposals may cut future funds, exclude minority representation on the MATC board, and show a lack of concern for diversity.”
Garcia continued, “I am in the Fire Protection Technician program. Not everyone goes into manufacturing. The MATC Board is already representing manufacturing. Minorities count
too. I feel good to go to a school that has advisors and administrators that are culturally diverse.”
Garcia further commented, “It appears that this is another Republican agenda attempt to redistrict board representation into an all white suburban dominated board – that’s wrong. I support cultural diversity. Loosing diversity makes things less important.”
Garcia spoke about another rally that has been planned to take place in Madison on Tuesday March 6 with buses leaving at 7 a.m. from the Downtown Campus.
Senator Glenn Grothman (Republican – West Bend) and Representative Mark Honadel (Republican – South Milwaukee) introduced the amendments in Senate and Assembly committees.
Both lawmakers contend that MATC needs more manufacturing representation on the MATC board and has not been following their mission to train employees for the Milwaukee workforce.
Some MATC board members have responded that the board already well represents business.
Kathleen Hohl, Director of Communications and Events for MATC responded with the following, “Our current District Board members represent a wide variety of employment
A rally on February 29 comprised of over 200 students, faculty, administration and government officials voiced their opinion against a bill called SB 275, which passed the Senate out of committee by a 4-3 Republican party line. The bill proposes changes to the MATC Board specifically reorganizing how the board is to be appointed as well as how it will be represented.
The rally took place at the downtown campus in the S-building. Students participated from all three floors of the atrium railings as well on the main floor.
Those that attended the rally expressed concern with the retraction of minority representation by the new proposals.
Students spoke about the importance of cultural diversity and how the new proposal would produce more representation from an all white suburban re-districting.
Fidel Garcia, President of the Latin Student Organization at the downtown campus said, “Students that are Hispanic are concerned that these proposals may cut future funds, exclude minority representation on the MATC board, and show a lack of concern for diversity.”
Garcia continued, “I am in the Fire Protection Technician program. Not everyone goes into manufacturing. The MATC Board is already representing manufacturing. Minorities count
too. I feel good to go to a school that has advisors and administrators that are culturally diverse.”
Garcia further commented, “It appears that this is another Republican agenda attempt to redistrict board representation into an all white suburban dominated board – that’s wrong. I support cultural diversity. Loosing diversity makes things less important.”
Garcia spoke about another rally that has been planned to take place in Madison on Tuesday March 6 with buses leaving at 7 a.m. from the Downtown Campus.
Senator Glenn Grothman (Republican – West Bend) and Representative Mark Honadel (Republican – South Milwaukee) introduced the amendments in Senate and Assembly committees.
Both lawmakers contend that MATC needs more manufacturing representation on the MATC board and has not been following their mission to train employees for the Milwaukee workforce.
Some MATC board members have responded that the board already well represents business.
Kathleen Hohl, Director of Communications and Events for MATC responded with the following, “Our current District Board members represent a wide variety of employment
experience that certainly benefits all members of the MATC community. The current proposal in the state Senate did not allow input from the thousands who benefit the most from the education and services provided by MATC, namely students, business owners, community leaders, alumni, elected officials and local residents.”
Dr. Michael Rosen President, AFT Local 212 said, “SB-275 will remove all nine members of the MATC District Board and replace them with a board selected by a new, less democratic and representative appointment committee composed of the Washington, Ozaukee and Milwaukee County Executives and the Milwaukee County Board Chair.”
Rosen further stated, “the bill is an outrageous power play by Republican politicians who have never supported MATC or its students and who slashed our funding by 30% last year. It was bottled up in committee until it was amended to be exclusively about MATC. There was no public hearing on the bill.”
