NEWS
Officials, students to discuss master plan
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Also by Aubre Andrus:
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- UW officials discuss new Master Plan (October 13, 2004)
- UW unveils Master Plan (November 3, 2005)
- UWGB finalizes master plan (February 3, 2006)
by Aubre Andrus
Monday, January 31, 2005
As plans develop on a master plan for developing and improving the campus, the University of Wisconsin will hold a series of meetings for students and staff to contribute ideas to the future of the Madison college grounds.
Ald. Austin King, District 8, stressed the hearings are a chance for students to express their ideas and comments.
“They’re not going to magically be able to interpret what we want unless we show up and tell them,” King said. “I would encourage everyone else who cares about the future of this campus and what it’s going to look like to come on down.”
The meetings are one of the few times those who live on campus can discuss the future of the campus with members of the surrounding community, according to Alan Fish, assistant vice chancellor for facilities, planning and management.
“It should be a pretty creative brew we think and we are looking forward to it,” Fish said.
The master plan is a vision of what the university could look like in the next 20 years and is “a dynamic, living document that can respond to change, yet guide future capital development for the University [sic],” the master plan’s website said.
Ayer Saint Gross, an architectural firm in Baltimore, is helping UW create the plan. ASG has created master plans for college campuses such as the University of Georgia and Arizona State University.
Fish said four areas of the campus have been identified for improvement including transportation, utilities, green space and the destruction and construction of buildings.
The plan includes transforming the campus into a friendlier environment for pedestrians and bikers and a more functional place for cars, he added.
Certain principles will be focused on during the development of a draft for the final plan, including embracing the campus’ lakefront location. According to Fish, the consultants working on the plan have worked on more than 30 campuses nationwide and want to physically and visually open up the view of the lake around campus.
“We think, as we talk to consultants, the lake is one of the most unique setting opportunities of any campus we have ever seen,” Fish said.
Open areas for students will be created by the destruction of Ogg Hall in 2007, Fish said, opening up the crowded block and creating a park area with volleyball and basketball courts in front of Gordon Commons. Eighteen to 20 buildings, mostly constructed in the ’60s with poor materials, will be taken down and replaced with new buildings.
The last master plan was developed in 1996 and included the construction of new parking lots, the Health Sciences Learning Center, and additions to the Chemistry building and Waisman Center. More than 80 percent of the plan has been followed through or is currently in the design and construction phases.
The first meeting, focusing on the East Campus area, will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday at Memorial Union. The town-hall-style meetings will continue throughout February and March to explore possible changes to the central and west areas of campus.
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 8:02am):
Will the costs of the master plan and its implications for tuition increases also be discussed in detail? Will there be a student referendum on the choices? Or are the town hall meetings just for show?
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 8:52am):
Thank the Republican legislature for your tuition increases.
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 12:57pm):
The master plan won't be done for a long time. They're having these meetings now to get student input before finishing the plan.
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 1:52pm):
"Thank the Republican legislature for your tuition increases."
Well jackass, some of us overburdened Wisconsin taxpayers are a little tired of paying for more of YOUR "education" of going to bars, getting high, and taking 6 years to get a Bachelors degree.
You could blame your overpaid, lazy, tenured professors who delegate all their work to TAs. Or every state employee (including everyone working for UW) who dont pay a dime for health insurance, while the rest of us pay thousands a year. You know? Could you actually think for a minute and consider WHY the cost is going up, not just whining that someone else should pay for it because you're the all-mighty "student", which is so honorable that you deserve to get everything for free, because its so hard to pick up a part-time job AND take 4 classes at the same time? Oh my, what will you ever do?!
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 2:17pm):
Guess what you think your prof makes, then see how much they really make: http://www.uwsa.edu/budplan/redbook/book2/index.cgi
Then realize why you pay so much for tuition!
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 4:51pm):
So let's see. I am lazy because I take issue with the legislature cutting spending for tuition while they gave themselves a pay raise last year? Is that your logic?
The pay for professors at UW Madison is ridiculously low compaed to private universities. Dropping the pay scale would cause profs to leave making my education worth less and more importantly making it of poorer quality.
I am sick of paying taxes so businesses can get incentives to increase stockholder revenue. Taxes are not optional. Nor are they seperable. We pay taxes for everyone's service. When will youy people learn that this country was a mess until the progressive income tax? The only reason most of us even have computers to read this on is because of the "socialist" taxation policies funding education, healthcare, infrastructure etc. That's right. The same policies you so despise.
Byt the way I am not even a student anymore, but I do think that investing in the community helps everyone in the long run. You conservatives who don't want to "pay" for someone elses education will be the first ones to complain when people aren't "smart enough". Investing in education is an investment in having a better run society and a more intelligent populace, one that can make smart decisions and think for themselves. That seems like a worth while investment to me.
Don't know why I even bother trying to reason with a bunch of greedy,selfish little pigs though. I hope you get absolutely fucked by the system that you so adore, and then when you are down on your luck with no job and no teeth. I'd like to see you pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. Hey! Maybe you could go join the army instead of sending the poor kids whose education you don't want to pay for!
-Jack Ass
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 6:00pm):
"Thank the Republican legislature for your tuition increases."
Uhh, wasn't it was Governor DOYLE a DEMOCRAT who signed off on a state budget that caused UW funding to drop and tuition to increase? He easily could have sent the budget bill back to reinstate the funding to the UW. There are plenty of other places in the state government where cuts could have been made.
Also, the majority of new buildings are constructed using private donations (why do you think their's a Grainger Hall??), and money that does NOT come from tuition--it comes from the WI taxpayers.
Anonymous (January 31, 2005 @ 6:02pm):
no I'm not that stupid, I meant to say there's and NOT their's, I just didn't catch it in time to correct it
