I don’t get it. This is a really shitty opinion article. Really. You’re a terrible writer.

Try to overthrow the global zionist conspiracy: fail try to overthrow the US:fail State of Wisconsin:fail Town of Madison:fail I know the union should go down like a sack of potatoes!….fail

Expect in the next few weeks for Kyle to decide that school children and cancer patients are the new threat to his new world order…. and for a school child with cancer to beat him

“Every effort made to uphold student democracy and defend accessibility to this university has failed.”

How can you claim you are attempting to promote “student democracy” by invalidating the results of an election open to all students? Your words and your actions do not match.

The student body voted nearly 2-1 to approve the referendum authorizing the union building project. Sure, it may have been easier for students to vote if that election had been online, but there were four polling places spread across campus that were open for two days. Thousands of students exercised their democratic right to vote, which you are now trying to eliminate.

It’s also critical to understand that this project the UW-System Board of Regents and the State of Wisconsin approved this project for construction, meaning not even the chancellor (who would ultimately decide what to do with the results of any referendum) has the right to reallocate its funding stream.

Students have exercised their voice by overwhelmingly approving the funding necessary to make this project a reality. Students have also expressed their voice by helping to design the new union. The author of this opinion piece apparently doesn’t take those student voices seriously because they differ from his PERSONAL opinion.

I’d like to point out some interesting things that happened in the Fall of 2006 when the paper ballot was used.

First, students were told that the initiative was binding. In reality, students do not have authority to make expenditures on capital projects. Vice Chancellor of Administration Darrel Bazzell was kind enough to point this out AFTER THE VOTE. The reason this is a big deal is because had students known this was simply providing input to the Chancellor’s Office, there would be more discussion of other renovation plans; specifically, ones that did not include an extensive Union South project.

Second, the wording of the initiative did not match exactly with the wording that was provided to the student council and the wording that was used to get signatures.

Third, the campaign by WUD was disgusting. They spent $14,000 to get the small amount of votes they got. They told students that Memorial Union was in violation of fire codes and there was a threat that it could be shut down. The Madison Fire Marshall stated later that this was never the case. They had TV’s running their campaign video and posters all over the union. Something that students opposing would not be able to do. Union employees worked on the campaign.

Fourth, the student election commission never posted the question two weeks prior to the election as required by the ASM Bylaws. The SEC did publish the wording of the initiative but not the actual question that appeared on the ballot - the most important part.

Finally, students approved a Union South project which was projected to cost $67 million. That project is now $94 million.

We are paying $150 per semester and we are only getting one union building. That cost is going up next year. Please cut the union’s budget!

“…it strikes me and many others now, as utter lunacy and a complete waste of money.”

Like the Dummycrats pork-o-licious spending bills? At least we’ll all be “rich”, since Barry HO promises to tax only the “rich”.

Get over it! UW is a top research institution and has steadily become a more selective institution. If you want to stay in Wisconsin and merely pay pennies go to one of the many other reputable UW system schools and get out of Madison. The Unions, both Memorial and Union South crucial to the campus environment and to student life. Just because you don’t live near Union South or think that the majority of the campus doesn’t, that doesn’t mean a new Union isn’t needed. All that money is going to enhance the campus and enhance the experience of students to come. So quit whining about paying 192 dollars more a year when you are only paying 8,000 for your education a year where many pay more than double that and they actually care of the University.

I think your second paragraph is a bit melodramatic. It’s not like you’re fighting the galactic empire. If enough people cared then things would be different but I don’t think that’s the case. It’s really as simple as that.

If so many students have a problem with it, why didn’t they turn out and vote it down once it became a paper ballot?

Also, as someone who spent a large amount of time at Union South, I think calling it irrelevant is out of line. Specifically, I’m sure the Engineering Campus appreciates it. And the many students living west and south of campus.

There was a vote, your side lost. I’m sorry you’re upset.

I was one of the 6% that voted against this measure (well, I voted the other two times, but it didn’t count), and I’ll probably still be here when the next measure comes up. I fully support a reduction in my seg fees to pay for a building I will never use. Students shouldn’t have to pay for construction via their seg fees, and students REALLY shouldn’t have to pay for construction that they will never use.

Kyle is usually full of crap, but he’s right on this time. The WUD is nothing but a bunch of thieves.

Thanks for telling it like it is Kyle. The Union and WUFIP are crap and everyone knows it.

9:05am — Where did you get $150/semester from? The most it’s ever going to be is $96….

Kyle, you are way out of line on this one! Just because YOU don’t use Union South doesn’t mean NOBODY does. And a lot more people would use it if it were nicer. Plenty of people live, work, and go to class on the west side of campus and we would also like a nice place to hang out! It simply does not make sense to cling to the shitty 70s-tastic Union South.

Maybe in your mind you are the savior of the free world, but IT’S JUST A BUILDING. Calm the fuck down.

Bawwwwwwww… Seriously, people. You all probably spend hundreds of dollars a month on liquor, stop bitching about giving a fraction of that to help your state’s flagship university.

Seriously, we pay over 3,000 dollars a year less for our education than Minnesota kids do for theirs, and our university is BETTER in pretty much every way.

Furthermore, since we are a research/hard sciences/etc university, it makes sense that the Medical/Research/Engineering/etc students should have a building of their own, and Union South is an absolute pile of crap. A lot of the people on this end of campus aren’t the drunks and partiers that all the Art History majors are, and State Street and Memorial Union just might not deliver what they like or what they want.

hey,11:28. I bet u don’t have to work during the school year and then two jobs to be able to afford tuition and rent. I will whine about an extra 192 because it adds up. And remember, these people work for us. We told them we don’t want a new Union twice.

“The WUD is nothing but a bunch of thieves.”

Despite the fact that they provide FREE music, movies, etc. every weekend at the Union. Have fun spending the rest of your weekend nights in college at State St. Brats or Johnny O’s.

In addition to what 2:28 said: WUD provides free entertainment almost every weekend and does not use seg fee money to pay for it. All of the money that is used to pay for the movies or the bands to play on the Terrace comes directly from revenue generated by the Union.

Great article. I’m glad others still remember.

“The student body voted nearly 2-1 to approve the referendum authorizing the union building project.”

Yeah, and before that they voted twice against the referendum, both times with greater turnout and overwhelming opposition. That makes it two votes to one against the referendum, and yet you thieves and frauds still got your way. That’s not democracy.

It really surprises me (Not) that the Union employee who’s job depends on this building is defending it and the election process used to screw us out of the money.

• They brought back the referendum time and time again until they got the vote they wanted

• They told students Mem Union may have to be torn down if they couldn’t bring it up to code;implying that all or most of the money would go to that purpose.

• They used all of their built-in staffing advantage, hired and trained staff and students to lobby voters through video, opinion pieces, etc

• The third time, they promised the students voting that they wouldn’t have to pay full price — indeed the juniors and seniors that year paid nothing so why not vote yes? No skin off your nose…

It absolutely makes me sick — don’t blame WUD, people, it’s not them and don’t blame ASM. Blame the people who run the Union, the Union student presidents during that time and the blinkard Union alums who helped ram this through.

Fewer than 2-thousand votes, on the third try, is all it took to sentence the rest of us this ridiculous fee. Nothing Dan Cornelius or anyone else says can change that fact. It is a travesty.

Even after the increase our seg fees are not that bad compared to other UW schools. It’s done so stop complaining about what happened and start working on ways to prevent it from happening in the future.

Seriously, seg fees are less than 100 bucks a semester. Just wait until you get your first real job and see exactly how much goes to federal taxes, state taxes, Medicare/Soc Sec, etc. Death and taxes are unavoidable. Deal with it.

Look at it this way, the SERF, Red Gym, Memorial Union, etc. that you enjoy (or at least have the opportunity to enjoy) were paid for by the seg fees of previous generations of students. Pay it forward.

“Look at it this way, the SERF, Red Gym, Memorial Union, etc. that you enjoy (or at least have the opportunity to enjoy) were paid for by the seg fees of previous generations of students.”

No, they weren’t. The Red Gym and Memorial Union were both built long before seg fees even existed. And the SERF was originally built to serve only the residents of the highrise dorms across the street. Since it was only supposed to serve that limited subset of the student population, it would not have been eligible for seg fees.

But I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that the defenders of the WUD would lie to us. After all, if they’re willing to steal millions of dollars from students by rigging a vote, why would they have a problem with lying?

I’m not sure where you got the idea that seg fees are less than 100 bucks per semester. It’s $96 per semester just for this two Union projects… nothing else even comes close but Rec Sports and UHS certainly are a sizable chunk. Students already paid hundreds per year in seg fees. Another $200 on top of that is ridiculous. especially when it is based on lies and distorations

Here is the info on current seg fee expenditures:

http://www.registrar.wisc.edu/students/feestuition/SegFeesUGRD1092-1094.pdf

Currently, “Union” comprises $150 per semester. The costs next year will likely be ~ $200 per semester. This includes the normal union costs plus the fees for the Union Project.

Why aren’t we getting charged less during the period that Union South is not functional? I remember that the Student Union Initiative campaign promised that there would not be a staff reduction during the rebuilding. I sure hope you go back on that promise because it is not fair for students to be paying the same amount for staffing while Union South is not functional.

What you students are failing to recognize is the fact that ASM has no REAL budget authority when it comes to Seg Fees. The administration lets the ASM leaders pretend that they control these funds, but in fact they don’t.

How 90% of Seg Fees are spent is decided by the administration, they throw a 10% bone to ASM to make the fees system look legit.

You all may not also know that the State is planing on taking about one and a half million dollars of your Seg Fees for the next two years to cover budget short falls that have nothing to do with the UW system.

If ASM wanted to sue for more control of Seg fees where would the attorneys fees come from? I doubt the administration would allow Seg fees to be spent suing them, I’m pretty sure it’s against system policy.

In the end there was not a staff reduction. No full-time staff were let go and all student staff were offered jobs at Memorial Union. Many people decided not to take jobs at Memorial Union because they worked at Union South due to its location to their apartment/classes.