The Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council voted to endorse Chancellor Biddy Martin’s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which will raise student tuition and provide additional aid and services.
In a statement, Martin said she was deeply grateful for the council’s endorsement.
“As you know, I am deeply committed to ensuring the quality and affordability of a UW-Madison education and the long-term value of our degree,” Martin said. “To members of ASM, I thank you for the effort and commitment that you have demonstrated. I look forward to bringing this proposal to fruition.”
Although the initiative was endorsed by a 17 to 1 vote, with three members abstaining, much debate ensued upon hearing the results of a student survey conducted by ASM that asked students for their opinion on the initiative.
According to the survey to which 2,286 people responded, 4.58 percent reported supporting the initiative while 14.61 percent said they were moderately in support of it. The remaining 80 percent said they where either opposed to the initiative or neutral.
“It’s funny to see [the Student Council] realize a majority of the students are against it and now they are going to have to justify endorsing this against the student body’s wishes,” ASM member Sol Grosskopf said. “There’s nobody on this campus that could be opposed to the initiative’s goals, but we need to be careful in what we’re going to do to get these benefits.”
Although there was some opposition, the majority of the council voiced support for the endorsement.
“I’ve seen that people who are informed of the initiative are in support of the initiative,” ASM member Adam Sheka said. “I think when it’s looked at in a more holistic sense people are much more on board with it.”
ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand also agreed with the endorsement.
Wiegand added while she wants to agree with the students, the benefits of the initiative outweigh the polling results.
According to Wiegand, if the initiative is passed, an increase in teaching staff and improvement of advising services will help the university maintain the value of a UW degree.
The Student Council will send out a second survey today to get more recent results on how students feel about the initiative. The results of the survey will be sent to the Board of Regents to consider while making their final decision.
“I think the student vote was pivotal in the decision to bring this initiative forward,” said Alex Gallagher, associate administrative program specialist to the Dean of Students. “I think if ASM hadn’t made this decision we wouldn’t have seen it go through.”
Gallagher added he was glad to see the “lengthy and nuanced” discussion that took place at the meeting.
“I hope students see the amount of time and thought ASM put into it,” Gallagher said. “It wasn’t that ASM flew to the beckoning of the administration — there was a lot of discussion and a lot of thought that went into this. I hope when students see ASM endorsed it they see ASM is making a rational decision of what’s in their best interest.”
The finalized copy of the initiative will be sent to the Board of Regents on May 7-8.
