A record-breaking 34.5 percent voter turnout in the Associated Students of Madison elections brought the NatUP 2010 referendum down Wednesday night with just more than 60 percent of those casting ballots voting against the renovation.
Of the 13,788 who voted, 8,354 students voted against the referendum, which would have added $54.19 a semester to segregated fees in 2013 to pay for a renovation of the Natatorium, while 5,311 voted in favor. This breaks down to a roughly 60-40 percent split.
When asked if the Natatorium referendum has any chance of making a comeback, NatUP 2010 President Mike Bernatz simply responded, “No.”
No New Seg Fees spokesperson Peter Rickman said he commended fellow members of his organization for their grassroots effort to educate students on the referendum.
Both Bernatz and Rickman agreed the referendum was one of the main reasons for the high voter turnout.
“Students clearly turned out and said ‘no new segregated fees,'” Rickman said.
Bernatz echoed his sentiments. Although he said he was happy to see so many students vote, he said he is disappointed students will continue to be unsatisfied with recreational sports facilities on campus.
He said he will not be spearheading any similar campaigns as he will be graduating, and speculated it will take a new cycle of students at UW to pass such a referendum in the future.
Bernatz said a lot of people were persuaded by No New Seg Fees’ campaign efforts, adding allegations the NatUP 2010 campaign had documented footage of the group tearing down NatUP 2010 flyers and spreading false information about the referendum.
Rickman said the allegations sound like “sour grapes.” He said No New Seg Fees did not need to resort to lies to perpetuate their message and NatUP 2010 never confronted the group with those allegations.
If UW finds it necessary for a new building on campus, it will find a way to do so without segregated fees, Rickman said. Bernatz, however, disagreed, maintaining student dollars will have to go toward a new recreational sports facility.
Students also voiced their opinions on the name for the new union and “Union South” dominated the ballot with 8,738 votes.
“Randall Union” was the runner up with 2,311 votes.
The final name is pending approval from Chancellor Biddy Martin, but should be decided before the end of the semester, Union Vice President of Project Management Patrick Tilley said.
“[Union South] was kind of what I was expecting,” Tilley said.
Tilley said Union South is already engrained in the heads of students, and he did not know if the other names resonated with UW as much, making it hard to oust the name recognition.
He said members of the union were very receptive to the idea of a student-involved naming process when ASM originally approached them in the fall. He said the contest was not a waste of time, but rather a good way to get students to think about the process of building the new union.
Full ASM results: https://badgerherald.com/news/2010/04/14/asm_ballot_results_.php
