NEWS
ASM forms focus groups to lobby for UW funds
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by Carolyn Potts
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Associated Students of Madison representatives said Tuesday they are making progress with their campaign to increase state funding and faculty retention for the University of Wisconsin System.
At the beginning of the spring 2008 semester, ASM began the Campaign for Quality Accessible Education to work for affordable, quality education to the students of the University of Wisconsin.
Several different committees are working under this umbrella campaign to increase support for the UW System, students and faculty, according to ASM Chair Gestina Sewell.
“We are trying to work out ways to help alleviate the rise in tuition while keeping the quality of education high,” Academic Affairs Committee Chair Jessica Pavlic said.
According to Pavlic, the Academic Affairs Committee is still doing the groundwork with ongoing efforts to create two focus groups to gather input on retaining faculty. The focus groups will be open to students, faculty and staff.
“We are focusing on professors,” Pavlic said. “They are leaving because they don’t get competitive pay, and UW doesn’t offer domestic partner benefits. We are trying to build support between different organizations and students so that we can lobby to secure domestic partner benefits.”
These benefits have more to do with the state than UW itself, Pavlic said. The focus groups will hold meetings in Memorial Union at 7:30 p.m. on April 24 and April 28.
According to Adam Sheka, chair of ASM’s campaign, the Legislative Affairs Committee has been lobbying to increase state support for the UW System.
“[Legislative Affairs] is trying to make sure the plan to deal with the budget deficit is taking care of the UW System as well,” Sheka said.
They are also lobbying to increase funding to the Wisconsin Higher Education Grants, which is the largest source of financial aid for students, Sheka said. The committee also plans to set up a Lobby Day for students to speak with legislators from their home districts regarding their concerns.
According to Diversity Committee Chair Hannah Buck, they are still in the research phase of this initiative. She said they want to increase the diversity of the campus community and make UW affordable to everyone.
ASM also passed a resolution in reaction to the March 6 Board of Regents meeting, Sheka said. The resolution stated that most of the tuition options discussed by the regents would not work because they would increase tuition, but there would be no guarantee the state would put more money toward financial aid for students.
The Legislative Committee is working on meeting with the regents to discuss tuition, Sheka said.
Sewell said there have been changes within the job descriptions of these committees to advocate for what really needs to be done. She said ASM is using this as a continuing effort and plans to continue the campaign into the 2008-09 school year.
Anonymous (April 2, 2008 @ 8:50am):
Why doesn't ASM just farm this out to WISPIRG? Those guys are actually good at what they do.
Anonymous (April 2, 2008 @ 9:14am):
Can I hold the video camera when ASM meets with Steve Nass?
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