[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Wisconsin Union Directorate announced the kickoff of a signature drive to garner support for a plan to renovate the student unions Wednesday.

After taking steps last fall to reexamine an old master plan for improvements, the WUD has now gathered information from surveys and forums to move forward.

Members unveiled the Wisconsin Union Facilities Improvement Plan and now wish to gain student support necessary to introduce this proposal to the Associated Students of Madison.

Because the proposal would require some funding from student segregated fees, a petition of student signatures must be submitted to ASM to begin the referendum process. WUD hopes to collect 2,500 signatures, which will be handed in to ASM in the first week of March.

"We want to raise awareness [about WUFIP] and have students sound in on the project," Janell Wise, president of the Wisconsin Union, said of the signature drive.

Wise also emphasized while student input is important, it is not new to the planning process.

Financing for the project would include a one-time increase of student segregated fees, which Wise said is not expected to exceed $96 per student. Other substantial components of funding would come from private donations and state dollars.

Members of WUD are optimistic about donations and funding issues surrounding the project, adding support thus far has been strong.

According to Eric Palm, vice president of administration for the Wisconsin Union, the plan has been a "student driven process" from the beginning. Fourteen percent of the student body — more than 5,000 students — responded to an e-mail survey sent out last fall, vocalizing their opinions about the future of the Union.

"The highlight of the student input [included] 'We don't want you to change Memorial too much,'" Wise noted. "They want us to preserve the historic nature of the Union."

Alumni input also reflected the desire to maintain Memorial Union's character; Wise said alumni consider the Union to be a major factor in the "tradition and legacy" of the university.

Memorial Union, though, has not seen any major renovations since its construction more than 75 years ago.

Wise said while the historic nature of the building will be preserved in the proposed renovation, fulfillment of basic needs requires some improvements. An adequate fire alarm system, sprinklers and accessibility issues are some of these needs addressed in the improvement plan.

Additional components include proposals for a completely new South Campus Union, built on its current site.

"The idea is to take the whole building down," Wise said. "The cost of renovations would be astronomical."

Preliminary plans for the new South Campus Union slate the building to be complementary to Memorial Union; it would include a large auditorium, lounge space with a skyline view, a pub and big event spaces for dances, conferences and other student activities.

The new South Campus Union would be the first certified Leadership and Environment Energy Design building on campus. The certification declares the building as a "durable, sustainable green building," according to Wise. Among the factors included in this certification are energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly construction materials.

While the new building would be a new addition to the campus, some students recognize inconveniences that could result from a lack of eating and studying spaces during construction of the new Union.

"The engineering campus is so far removed from State Street and everywhere else there is to eat," UW sophomore Amanda Austreng said. "People check their e-mail there, study, eat, just relax. Not having that there could be a big inconvenience."

She noted, though, the current Union South is not practical in accommodating UW's large student body.

In fact, both unions constantly struggle to find room for the activities they wish to hold. According to Palm, approximately 1,300 requests for meeting space by students alone are turned down every year due to lack of adequate space.

The improvement plan would work to remedy that problem, Palm remarked, making the Union "more inviting."

"There's just a lot of love in a lot of places for the Union at Wisconsin," he said.