OPINION & EDITORIAL
Holding accountable
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by Letters to the Editor
Monday, November 8, 2004
No Wisconsin student can claim that in the past year they haven't been directly affected by rapidly rising tuition costs. Repeatedly, the University of Wisconsin has been forced to tell its students that, because of the Governor, Legislature and Board of Regents, more money will be needed in the form of tuition hikes. Due to the Governor's Biennial Budget, tuition is increasing $350 per semester here at UW-Madison. Some people say that $350 is not that much money; I beg to differ. Consider how much $350 is; it's my rent for a month, it's my car insurance for 6 months, it's a lot of nice Christmas presents and it's extra money that I don't make at my part-time job. I know that I am not alone in not having sufficient funds to account for the money that the state uses to make up for $250 million cuts to UW-System after they deficit spend each year.
Just this one issue alone makes it vitally important for students to hold important people accountable, and this can only be done if the students hold their own leaders accountable. Students have many people in their campus life that can be considered leaders, but the leaders that should be held accountable the most are those who have been elected by the student body. There are 31 elected Student Council members who represent the main governing body of the Associated Students of Madison, and there is a place where they will be accountable to the students — a place where students can drop in and hear an explanation of what Student Council is doing for them, what segregated fees actually are, and come and see firsthand who these people who represent them are. The event is Town Hall, an accountability session for Council members. Town Hall is an open meeting to all students to bring questions, comments and concerns to their elected representatives. The date is Wednesday, November 10th. The time is 6pm, and the location is Gordon Commons.
If you have ever wondered just what it is that student government does for you, come and see what it is all about, or at the very least, come and see who your representatives are. The main issues addressed will be tuition and segregated fees, but we will open up the floor to address questions on any other issue too. We chose these two issues because the Campus Relations Committee members, your fellow students, felt that they were two of the main issues that affected many of the students and because, in a recent survey that we conducted among students, 33 of the 100 students surveyed said that they did not know what segregated fees were. Not only will Student Council Representatives be there, but Student Service Finance Committee (SSFC) members will be there to answer questions also. Of those 100 people surveyed, 72 answered that they wanted to learn more about the ASM, what it is doing and how the issues that ASM undertakes are affecting them. The Town Hall itself will be run in an orderly fashion, meaning that you will write your questions and submit them to the people at the table, so that you do not have to feel embarrassed by asking a certain question. Everyone is welcome, because after all this is your student government and all good representations should be held accountable to their constituencies for their actions.
Jennie Johnson (jjohnson6@wisc.edu) is an ASM intern and SSFC member.
Anonymous (November 8, 2004 @ 3:54am):
A tuition increase for students just so the fat cats at the top of the food chain can get fatter? If those morons wanna cry and whine because their paychecks aren't as fat as they are, then let 'em leave. Obviously they are in it for the money. If they want extra beer money, let 'em work in the private sector!
Anonymous (November 8, 2004 @ 8:36am):
Maybe if STUDENTS would stop drinkng and partying all the time and only looking out for their good times they would have more money to spend on the important things in life.
Anonymous (November 8, 2004 @ 11:49am):
Way to make a broad generalization about "STUDENTS" only caring about partying and drinking.
I bet it's unequivocally true. Just like all women are bad drivers, and all asians are really good at math.
If you do not have anything but your very biased opinion to add to the discussion, why do you bother?
Anonymous (November 8, 2004 @ 12:52pm):
Why is it ok to raise salaries for the already highly paid administrators, may of whose jobs are redundant, but not ok to give TAA members a living wage?
