After months of preparation, the student government will hold their first annual housing fair Tuesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.
The fair, organized by the Legislative Affairs Committee, will last from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and includes free pizza and prizes such as iPods and renters prepared to give students information on their properties.
Students will have the chance to meet with the 43 vendors that attend the fair.
“I think the housing fair is a great opportunity for the students to see all their options in one place,” Chair Sam Polstein said. “That’s the big problem. Students don’t have the full picture of what the housing options are like so they end up signing a lease too early.”
Alongside leasing information, the fair will include a group of representatives that will educate students on their rights as a tenant. They will hand out flyers and also make themselves available to answer questions, Polstein said.
The committee also discussed a new proposal by Chancellor Biddy Martin. Martin plans to lobby for the new plan she has dubbed the “New Badger Partnership.”
The partnership would give more flexibility to UW from the state. Under this plan, UW would have the power to decide tuition, wages, compensation and construction contracts.
The committee is in the early stages of developing a position on exactly how they will lobby for the new proposal.
“Basically, we need more information before we can make any real proposal,” committee member Sam Seering said.
Aside from the partnership, Polstein recently spent an evening with the UW Police Department in order to obtain firsthand experience of medical amnesty. This way, the committee can write a more complete document, Polstein said.
The committee will take its next steps in medical amnesty on Dec. 7 when they meet with a UHS representative.