Associated Students of Madison representatives said Tuesday
they are making progress with their campaign to increase state funding and
faculty retention for the University of Wisconsin System.

At the beginning of the spring 2008 semester, ASM began the Campaign
for Quality Accessible Education to work for affordable, quality education to
the students of the University of Wisconsin.

Several different committees are working under this umbrella
campaign to increase support for the UW System, students and faculty, according
to ASM Chair Gestina Sewell.

“We are trying to work out ways to help alleviate the
rise in tuition while keeping the quality of education high,” Academic
Affairs Committee Chair Jessica Pavlic said.

 According to Pavlic, the Academic Affairs Committee is
still doing the groundwork with ongoing efforts to create two focus groups to
gather input on retaining faculty. The focus groups will be open to students,
faculty and staff.

“We are focusing on professors,” Pavlic said.
“They are leaving because they don’t get competitive pay, and UW doesn’t
offer domestic partner benefits. We are trying to build support between
different organizations and students so that we can lobby to secure domestic
partner benefits.”

These benefits have more to do with the state than UW
itself, Pavlic said. The focus groups will hold meetings in Memorial Union at
7:30 p.m. on April 24 and April 28.

According to Adam Sheka, chair of ASM’s campaign, the
Legislative Affairs Committee has been lobbying to increase state support for
the UW System.

“[Legislative Affairs] is trying to make sure the plan
to deal with the budget deficit is taking care of the UW System as well,”
Sheka said.

They are also lobbying to increase funding to the Wisconsin
Higher Education Grants, which is the largest source of financial aid for
students, Sheka said. The committee also plans to set up a Lobby Day for
students to speak with legislators from their home districts regarding their
concerns.

According to Diversity Committee Chair Hannah Buck, they are
still in the research phase of this initiative. She said they want to increase
the diversity of the campus community and make UW affordable to everyone. 

ASM also passed a resolution in reaction to the March 6
Board of Regents meeting, Sheka said. The resolution stated that most of the
tuition options discussed by the regents would not work because they would
increase tuition, but there would be no guarantee the state would put more
money toward financial aid for students.

The Legislative Committee is working on meeting with the
regents to discuss tuition, Sheka said.

Sewell said there have been changes within the job
descriptions of these committees to advocate for what really needs to be done. She
said ASM is using this as a continuing effort and plans to continue the
campaign into the 2008-09 school year.