As University of Wyoming students return for the spring 2023 academic session, so has the 67th Wyoming legislature for its 40-day legislative session.
Over 300 pieces of legislation and counting have been submitted to the House and the Senate, with several articles already in committee, on the floor, or on the way to the governor’s desk. Wyoming senators have until Jan. 26 and house representatives have until Jan. 31 to submit all their legislation to the Wyoming Congress.
Several of these pieces will affect almost all areas of the state, including UW’s students and faculty population. They will be affected not only in the area of academia, but in areas such as university funding, mental health, safety, and social speech.
Like the Wyoming legislature itself, UW students seemed to have differentiating opinions on the various legislative subjects.
Wyoming House Bill 105, Repeal Gun Free Zones and Preemption Amendments, is a prime example of differentiating student opinion on political issues affecting UW as the proposed Wyoming House Bill would essentially remove the ban on concealed firearms from university property.
“I’d like to ask the state legislature if they’d be okay with me coming in and testifying on a bill with a gun in my hand,” said ASUW Senator Tanner Ewalt, a junior in political science. “No, obviously not. It would make them feel unsafe.”
“Now, how do you think children, who have grown up in a country where every single day we’ve been under the threat of a school shooting in our public education, who have finally made it to college, are going to feel watching all of our classmates come to class with guns, not because they actually feel unsafe, but because they wanna look big and strong because they can carry a gun on their hip now.”
Students like Colin Knight, a junior in business marketing, hold a different viewpoint on the proposed legislation.
“With a mass shooter situation, it’s a one v. four type of situation, you’d rather have the four on your side, wouldn’t you?” said Knight. “I mean, if you go to the [gun safety] classes, and you’re cleared to carry it, why not?”
Mental health legislation like House Bill 65, which aims to establish a trust fund for the creation of Wyoming-specific call centers for the universal telephone national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline 988, seems to be received in a more positive light from UW students across the political spectrum.
Failure to pass this legislation could result in UW students calling this hotline being deferred to call centers outside the Wyoming area to other states in the coming future.
UW students have even taken this a step further to advocate for this piece of legislation through political action and testimonials.
Maia Marces, a UW master’s student in social work, leads the charge as the representative for the Wyoming National Association of Social Work Chapter for master’s students.
“Social workers work on the frontline with mental health crises a lot of the time, and rural social work is extremely different from urban social work,” said Marces. “So people who are answering these call lines, if they don’t understand that culture, it can get kind of iffy on if they’re able to save a life or not.”
Proposed legislative action that could change education requirements at UW can be seen in Senate File 114 Constitutional Instruction and Examination Requirements. If passed, the senate file would require UW students to take at least one year of Wyoming state and United States constitutional class instead of the previous requirement of one semester.
Additionally, the senate file would also require all students graduating from public-funded institutions in 2023-24 and following school years to pass the United States Citizenship test. Failure to pass this test above a 60% score could result in the withholding of degrees in the k-12 system and higher education institutions.
“I fully can see what they’re getting at, but we’re not testing their citizenship (at UW),” said ASUW senator and UW political science and history student Rihannon McLean. “A lot of these people are nursing majors, and I don’t think how much you know about U.S. and Wyoming government should indicate whether or not you should become a nurse.”
“So why, at a university level, should we suddenly be playing catch up when the K-12 system is not adequately teaching these students this information?”
Clayton Baker, a senior transfer student studying finances at UW, shared similar frustrations when it came to placing government studies in higher education.
“I took all my political science and history classes [before arriving at UW], and it was just another thing I had to add on that I already took,” said Baker.
At this time, UW does not have a COVID-19 vaccine requirement, but it does have several immunization requirements for students before they arrive on campus. However, House Bill 66, Prohibiting Mask, Vaccine, and Testing Discriminations, could affect this. The bill would make the university unable to require vaccine and immunization requirements before arriving on campus.
“As a conservative, I don’t like that law,” said Gabe Saint, a sophomore studying politics and local Wyoming chapter president for Turning Point U.S.A. “For the COVID-19 vax, I mean, if it was just that, I’d be alright with that.”
“I think we’ve seen a lot of discrimination in the state and across the country for people that don’t have the vaccine (COVID-19), but I don’t particularly agree as a UW student getting rid of that [other vaccine requirements].”
With the return of students on campus, members of the ASUW executive branch are planning on how to best represent students during this 40-day legislative session.
“We are working together to coordinate how best to gauge student voices to address current legislative issues,” said ASUW Director of Governmental and Community Affairs Cait Heddins.
“ASUW will be tabling in the Union from January 30th to February 3rd during mid-day where we will be distributing lobbying information and materials.”
ASUW will also use one of its programs, The United Multicultural Council (UMC), for the creation of lobbying efforts, resources, and techniques for those in the student population interested in participating in lobbying.
“Currently, student senators are working on resolutions in response to some state legislation and ASUW leadership in this area, being myself and our President and Vice President, are all working to ensure all student voices are heard and included in this process,” said ASUW Director Heddins.
With the nature of the fast-moving 40-day legislative session, the ASUW executive branch mentioned that, if need be, the student senate would be able to enact procedures to speed up the student legislative process to ensure students’ voices are heard on the Wyoming state floor.
“I think ASUW is in a unique position in which we are able to advocate and represent students in a way that the [UW] administration cannot. That being said, we have to walk the line between advocating for all students while also acknowledging the balance between state funding and how that impacts students as well,” said ASUW President Allison Brown.
“It certainly can be difficult at times to balance these competing needs, which is why often we try to focus our ASUW advocacy efforts on issues that impact all students while also encouraging and supporting students through development or financial means to advocate at the State Legislature themselves as well.”
