Thank you to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Chancellor James Schmidt for hosting the second meeting of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities on the topic of free speech and intellectual diversity on college campuses. We heard from Chancellor Schmidt, Joe Cohn from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Professor Emeritus Georges Cravins and the research team that conducted the UW-System Free Speech Survey.
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Chancellor James Schmidt addresses the committee.
Joe Cohn from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Professor Emeritus Georges Cravins.
Pictured below is the research team that conducted the UW-System Student Free Speech Survey. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professors Geoffrey Peterson, Eric Kasper, April Bleske-Rechek; Dr. Eric Giordano of the University of Wisconsin System and Team Lead Dr. Tim Shiell from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Hmong Veterans Bill Advances
Last week a bill I authored, Assembly Bill 8, was advanced out of committee on a unanimous vote. Assembly Bill 8 would extend veterans benefits to ethnic Hmong and Laotian fighters who served in Laos in support of the United States during the Vietnam War. During the war, the United States clandestinely recruited and armed more than 40,000 ethnic Hmong and other Laotian fighters in their battle against North Vietnamese and Laotian communist forces in what is known as the “Secret War” in Laos.
This legislation has enjoyed strong bi-partisan support in the past and would expand the state definition of “veteran” in Wisconsin statutes to include individuals who honorably served in Special Guerilla Units operating in Laos from February 28, 1961 to May 7, 1975 to qualify for state veteran benefits.
The bill provides long overdue recognition and appreciation for the bravery and sacrifice of these unsung heroes. This legislation has been supported by the Wisconsin Lao Veterans of America, the Wisconsin VFW, the Hmong American Partnership, Hmong Cultural and Community Agency, Former Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Daniel Zimmerman, and the National Association of Social Workers – Wisconsin Chapter. It honors the courage and sacrifice of those who put their lives on the line for the values and beliefs that we revere as Americans, and who repeatedly risked their lives to save American sailors and soldiers.
Assembly Bill 8 now advances to the floor of the State Assembly.
