Memorial Union employees submitted a letter to Union administration Thursday afternoon asking that a policy banning non-University of Wisconsin students from being employed as Union building managers be reconsidered.
An appeal was made on behalf of Tessa Horn, a Madison Area Technical College student, who is currently employed as a building manager at the Red Gym and being trained at Memorial Union.
Building and Event Management Facilities Manager Roger Vogts, who oversees the building managers, said Horn was first hired under the impression she would be transferring to the University of Wisconsin for the spring semester. As of now, she is still an MATC student.
According to Vogts, a decision was issued last fall by Assistant Director for Facilities Management Paul Broadhead banning non-UW students from being employed as building managers at the Union.
“There are some people who it seems to upset. I’m having a difficult time understanding why they are upset at all,” Vogts said. “I’ve always given priority to UW-Madison students. Its just in this particular case we had a candidate that was very outstanding.”
The letter to Broadhead was drafted and signed by Memorial Union building managers, but Memorial Union employee Tony Uhl says the letter was written because of Vogts’ insistence.
Uhl said as of Wednesday night at least one building manager was uncomfortable signing the letter.
“The people that signed it only signed it because they felt guilty. They didn’t want to create tension between the employees. They agree it’s kind of shady,” Uhl said.
According to Student Services Finance Committee Chair Kurt Gosselin, Memorial Union operations are funded by a combination of non-allocable student segregated fees and operational fees. This means all positions are partially funded by student fees.
“We pay our segregated fees so that the fees can come back to benefit Madison students,” Uhl said. “Other students are not paying fees into the Madison system and I think the Union should be subject to the same rules that other student groups are.”
Uhl said that in recent years it has been unclear how the Union spends the student fees allocated to keeping it running.
“We don’t know where the segregated fees in the Union go because they have failed to provide that information in the past,” Uhl said. “They have been directed to provide that information this year.”
UW human resource policies for other student hourly positions at Memorial Union voice a commitment to employing UW students and also mandate “other local area students and limited term employees should only be hired when student help is not available or under other special circumstances.”
Vogts said if he believes a non-UW student to be more qualified he does not see a problem in hiring them.
“If a non-UW-Madison student is more qualified than the UW student, then we can go ahead and go with that student,” Vogts said. “In the end it is a better service to UW-Madison students.”
