Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch, also referred to as the Senate, has student 38 voting seats for UWM students broken into Academic, Advocacy, At-Large, Transfer, and First-Year groups, as well as ex-officio (non-voting) seats for students of Waukesha and Washington County. Senators work to represent the needs and interests of students at UWM. They write and pass legislation to advocate for UWM students, design and implement projects that help to support students, and work with faculty and staff to make sure that every decision made on campus helps to create a better environment and better college experience for the UWM the student body.

Become a Senator

Meetings

The Student Association Senate meets regularly. Public Meeting Notices (PMN) and agendas for every Student Association Senate meeting will be sent to the sa-public@uwm.edu list services and posted outside of the Student Association offices, in accordance with open meeting laws.

Student Association Senate

Bi-Weekly Thursdays, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
UWM Student Union, Room EG80

Types of Senators

At-Large Senators

Unlike the other Senate seats, At-Large Senators do not have individual job descriptions nor a specific population they represent on campus, and instead, choose what projects they want to be involved in and which students they want to represent. This is a particularly good position for students who are good at working independently, whose school or advocacy seats are already taken, or those who want to be involved with multiple unrelated projects. There are 10 At-Large Senator positions.

Advocacy Senators

Advocacy Senators advocate for specific segments of the student body on campus. There are 10 advocacy seats. If you choose to sit in one of these seats it will be your job to represent your constituency to the administration and to advocate on their behalf.

Academic Senators

Academic Senators represent the various schools and colleges on campus, meet with their Deans, and push for changes to schools, departments and curriculum. As every school supports more than one major, Academic Senators also collaborate with Program Representatives, who advocate for their particular program on campus. Program Representative Elections occur near the beginning of the year.

Transfer Student Senators

The transfer student seats are elected in the Fall Semester with the First-Year Senator seats. You must be a transfer student to run for these positions, and only transfer students will be able to vote in this election.

First-Year Senators

First-Year Senators represent the largest student group on campus and advocate for new first-year students. Only First-Year students may run for these positions and only First-Year students will vote in this election.

General Studies Ex-Officio Seats

General Studies Ex-Officio Seats are non-voting seats for students of the Waukesha and Washington County Students. Students who pay segregated fees to UW-Milwaukee will not be considered for these seats.