OPINION & EDITORIAL
Student Fees Enhance Learning Experience at UW
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by Vicki Bomben
Thursday, May 9, 2002
Many people have heard about student fees in light of controversies over the past year. What many people have not heard, though, is what student fees are all about and why they are so important to students.
Though there are always controversies and debates over budgets, the student-fee system we have at UW-Madison is the only system which allows students to have direct control over their education and participate in the forum of ideas on campus.
This spring semester marked the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Southworth v. UW Board of Regents, allowing students to facilitate out-of-classroom experiences and education through distributing student segregated fees. Through the student-fee system, students are able to “tax” themselves and distribute these funds to a variety of student organizations and services.
These organizations and services then contribute to a forum of ideas where a multitude of opinions and beliefs are present. Within this forum, students actively participate in their education by experiencing a variety of ideas different from their own and engaging in learning and debate outside the classroom.
These opportunities should be expected from an institute of higher learning. Many of the things we encounter we agree with and many we do not. It is all of this which contributes to our education. We learn the most when confronted with new ideas and, more importantly, with ideas contrary to our own.
While many organizations would be able to contribute to this forum without segregated fees, many more organizations would not be able to make as large an impact without them. In fact, many would not exist at all.
In addition to being able to participate in and learn from the opportunities student fees provide, any student can participate in the process. The system is run by students and for students. Students sit on the committees that distribute funding, are part of organizations receiving funding and partake in the many benefits which are provided by the distribution of our fees. Students know the most about what is going on in the campus community and are the body most capable of assessing students’ needs on campus.
Unfortunately, many students do not know much more about the student-fees process than the controversies in the media.
This past year the attention paid to student fees, however, has focused upon the portion that receives the smallest monetary amount.
Over 80 percent of student fees go toward major auxiliary services such as University Health Services, the Wisconsin Union and Recreational Sports such as the Natatorium and the SERF. Among the services provided by the much-talked-about portion of student fees are the bus pass, student government and many student organizations and services.
As the semester wraps up, students can reflect upon the ideas presented to us by these organizations and services and the experiences that have shaped our understandings of the world we live in. This experience is due, in large part, to the professors and faculty who have worked to educate us at this university, but also to our fellow students, who have challenged us daily through their dedication to the out-of-classroom learning experience.
We, as students, have advantage of being able to distribute our own fees and assess our own needs. In turn, we are presented with many opportunities to further our education. Through the student-fee system at UW, students can continue to have direct control over their educations and reap the benefits thereof. This control of our own money is something many students at universities across the country do not have. We are truly privileged to be at a university where learning goes beyond the classroom and extends into our daily lives and experiences—and where we, as students, can play a major part in our own education.
Vicki Bomben, Faith Kurtyka, and Maria Pelzer, Student Fee Defenders
The following student organizations support and endorse the above editorial:
Adventure and Environmental Education Club, The American Society of Interior Designers, AWARE, Campus Women’s Center, Eagle Heights Community Gardens, F.H. King Students of Sustainable Agriculture, Habitat for Humanity, Hip Hop Generation, Holocaust Remembrance Coalition, International Socialist Organization, Japanese Karate Club, Jumptown, Left Turn, Madison This Week, Men Opposing Sexual Assault (MOSA), Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, Model United Nations, Mu Kappa Tau, Political Awareness Group, Sex Out Loud, SHOUT, SparkleTime Danceteam, Students for Camp Heartland, Student Labor Action Coalition, Student Leadership Program, Tibetan Tutoring Project, UHS/SAC Student Advisory Board, Undergraduate Entomology Club, UW Art Club, UW InfoShop, WISPIRG, WSUM
