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Final day for agency set

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Also by Nick Penzenstadler:

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New apartments for West Wash? (November 20, 2007)
One-and-out: Kumar will not seek 2nd term on Dane County Board (November 15, 2007)
Displaced Carroll residents call university, bookstore helpful (November 13, 2007)
Carroll Street fire displaces students (November 12, 2007)

by Nick Penzenstadler

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

June 8 was named the official departure date for the Travel Center inside Memorial Union Tuesday.

Employees at the Travel Center — which provides travel material and sells various tickets associated with STA Travel — were notified yesterday that the office would close permanently this June, and its services would be dispersed to other venues around campus.

The Wisconsin Union announced its plan last November to close the more than 30-year-old center due to budget constraints and inefficient services.

Jesse Allhands, UW junior and Travel Center employee, said the decision was surprising last fall but added it was even more startling to learn the final day was so close.

"It was a decision completely out of the blue," Allhands said. "There were no students or union members or anyone else from the union council involved in the process."

Allhands has since founded a registered student organization called the Student Initiative for the Travel Center, which advocates keeping the office in Memorial Union. As of Tuesday, the group had petitioned more than 2,000 signatures in support.

According to Allhands, the student organization put together a proposal to streamline the services and save money and presented it to union administrators after winter break.

Hank Walter, associate director of Wisconsin Union, said administrators met with students and heard their proposal but said they couldn't justify increasing student fees when they could dissolve the center and accomplish the same goals.

"I don't see us going back and reviewing it again," Walter said. "I recognize that there are some strong feelings about this, but when you look at what the union mission is, and you look at the financial realities of the travel industry, it just didn't make sense for us to continue the Travel Center in a way that it was not succeeding."

With only 1,691 votes, Allhands pointed out that the student Union Initiative to renovate Memorial Union and reconstruct Union South received less support than the 2,000 supporters petitioning to keep the Travel Center open.

"I actually went out and campaigned for the initiative, and less than a month later, the union administration announces it's going to be closing the center permanently," Allhands said. "That is something that upset me beyond words."

Walter noted that students would still have access to its most popular services like bus tickets, which will be moved to a more convenient location in Memorial Union.

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