Madison students will face an inevitable tuition hike next year, a hike that barely begins to address the UW’s budget cuts handed down by Gov. Jim Doyle. Unfortunately, the so-called “student leaders” and university officials who will attempt to convince our legislature that UW needs more funding lack credibility and hurt the university’s cause.

In a February 20 Wisconsin State Journal article, Assembly Speaker John Gard was paraphrased as being “puzzled that so far university leaders have not threatened to freeze enrollment or take other drastic steps, like they did when Assembly Republicans wanted to cut $100 million from the System last year.”

The type of threats made a year ago by regents and the university rarely achieve their purpose, and in this case it appears they may have hurt relations between legislators and the university. We should all therefore feel glad that all sides seem to be working together to minimize the damage done to the university this time around.

So, consider myself puzzled as well. Puzzled, yet pleased I suppose.

But as the university changes its tune, the “student voice” seems as predictable as ever. Student-led tuition lobbying efforts in the past were known for their arduous marches up and down State Street and for their profanity-laden chants.

Organized chants and rants haven’t happened yet, thanks in part to the usual suspects keeping themselves busy with pre-emptive war protests. In the meantime, lobbyists for United Council and ASM have already condemned the proposed $350 per semester tuition hike.

Tuition hikes are not a desirable solution to any university budget problems, but knee-jerk condemnation from ASM and United Council will do little to help the cause. What credibility these organizations may have is lost when their arguments ignore the fact that UW-Madison in-state tuition is a bargain. Amongst public Big Ten schools, only Iowa is cheaper, and Iowa has already passed large increases for future semesters.

But no matter how articulate and reasonable ASM or United Council’s tuition arguments get, they will not be taken seriously by legislators at the other end of State Street. After all, how can you take ASM complaints about the rising costs of education seriously when the portion of the tuition bill they control (e.g. segregated fees) has increased at an exponential rate over the past decade? And how can you take United Council seriously when their existence depends on increasing the financial burden on students through these student fees?

For years this university has enabled student government to fund largely leftist clubs and organizations in order to create an “educational forum” that fosters sifting and winnowing outside the classroom. The university argued that without such funds, the educational forum would either cease to exist or at least lose its effectiveness, and the Supreme Court agreed.

However, the most visible sifting and winnowing I have seen on this campus in my five years here has been the very pre-emptive war protests and activism that have kept tuition protestors so busy. The majority of these activists march for peace without large assistance from student fees. This fact alone proves that the “educational forum” the university and the usual suspects so love will continue to exist and even thrive, with or with out subsidies from student tuition bills.

Eliminating these controversial student fees would not solve the state’s budget crisis, nor would it help the university deal with an enormous $250 million hole in its budget. However, any dollar cut in student fees would offset a dollar increase in tuition, and in these tough economic times, every dollar counts.

More importantly, as a symbolic gesture, eliminating these unnecessary sifting subsidies would give students and the university much more credibility in front of a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor, neither of whom seem sympathetic to the problems facing higher education.

What do the usual suspects have to fear? Will activism at the UW really die without continued public subsidy? It’s time to give credibility a chance.

A.J. Hughes ([email protected]) is a software developer and UW graduate.