Whitewater Student Government voted unanimously Monday to pass new legislation requiring professors to provide electronic copies of syllabi.

The Course Syllabus Accessibility Act, submitted by Sen. John Jensen, requires professors not using the Desire2Learn system to provide an electronic copy of their course syllabi through email or other online methods.

The new legislation requires syllabi to be available online, either via D2L or other online methods, within at least seven days before after the first class meeting.

WSG President Andrew Whaley said, from his understanding, the legislation was put together because not all professors use D2L to provide online material for their courses.

“Students have found later in the semester they might not have the electronic copy, they might lose their hard copy and then they have no access to it,” Whaley said. “The intent of the legislation was to make sure students would always have an electronic copy.”

He said the new legislation would benefit students and better the online interaction between students and faculty.

“Even if it’s just an attachment that sits in their email, I think that it will just increase student success, knowing what they have to do if they lose their syllabus.”

Whaley said he thinks D2L is a great tool and the new legislation might serve as a gateway to other legislation regarding providing course materials online.

“D2L has been a positive thing,” Whaley said. “Having all your course materials online and being able to access them throughout the semester has definitely been a benefit to a lot of students.”

Whaley said expanding to where all faculty on campus use D2L would also benefit students.

“To what degree they use it is at their discretion, but I think it should be used across campus,” Whaley said.

Also at Monday’s meeting, WSG reviewed proposed legislation for content and clerical changes that would allow free parking from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. in Lot 12 behind Andersen Library.

If passed, a formal proposal will be presented to visitor and parking services and campus police within three days.

The legislation would go into effect no later than the third week of September if approved.