Opinion

ASM still wrong

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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

• The Invisible Man Award: Wyndham Manning (May 7, 2009)
• The People's Choice Award: Jacqueline Hitchon et. al (May 7, 2009)
• The Lifetime Achievement Award: ASM (May 7, 2009)
• Honest representation (May 5, 2009)
• Junger for ASM Chair (May 5, 2009)

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Even if the state government imposes an ill-times tuition freeze, tuition bills will still be on the increase.

Student government, the leading cry baby when it comes to tuition increases, has control over one part of a student’s bill: segregated fees. You would think such avid advocates of lower tuition would lead the way by limiting the increase in these fees.

Alas, the pleas of poverty are so much hot air. As we editorialized last semester, the Associated Students of Madison are proposing to increase segregated fee-sponsored student organization budgets by a whopping 84 percent. Next year, these budgets will total nearly $3 million, up from approximately $1.5 million this year; each student will have to pay an estimated $70 in student organization fees.

Unlike potential tuition increases, which would attract better faculty and renovate campus buildings, the budget increases would largely go to create dozens of high-paying jobs for student activists.

Since segregated fees are set separate from tuition, only the chancellor and Board of Regents — not the legislature or governor — can stop the unprecedented increase in student fees.

Our point is simple: If tuition bills must rise, the priority should be faculty and facilities, not student government. Chancellor Wiley should remember these priorities and veto the budget of student government.