Your degree means nothing. You are entirely incompetent. All your hard work means nothing. Your education is a joke. A UW-Madison diploma does not mean that you have a world-class education, but rather that you are unskilled, unqualified, and an underachiever. And that career fair that you went to yesterday? Yeah, they all laughed at your resume behind your back.
This is the message that the members of the Student Services Finance Committee have sent to you, the students of UW-Madison. This past week, when they denied funding to several student groups, they sent the message that they don’t care how many hours a week you study, or how many hours a week you sit in class, or how many hours a week you work. They don’t care that your only hope to better yourself is by gaining an education at the University of Wisconsin. They have sent this message by adamantly refusing to fund student groups on this campus that contribute to the educational mission of the university, provide the multicultural education necessary to thrive in the real world, and empower students in leadership and in making their voices heard.
They have denied all funding to MEChA, a Chicano/a student organization that could have taught you what it’s like to go from a culture where you are the extreme majority to one where you are the extreme minority. MEChA members could have shown you the historical struggles their community has faced and developed your political consciousness of the Mexicanas/os you will have to interact with someday.
They have denied all funding to the Diversity Education Specialists, a Dean of Students program that would have provided diversity training to you or your student organization and could have shown you how to plan a conference or event. DES staff could have shown you what it means to communicate across cultures and could have provided you with the leadership skills you will need to survive in the real world.
These valuable services, open to any student on campus and entirely unique in the services they have to offer, combined cost you a grand total of $3. But certain members of the SSFC, superheroes that they are, decided this was far too much for the poor students to pay for an education that might actually qualify them to work somewhere upon graduation, and fearlessly denied any and all funding to MEChA and DES.
SSFC saved you $3 this week. But they cost you a balanced, well-rounded education that would have enabled you to form your own ideas and opinions. They cost you the chance to build cross-cultural understanding and the ability to handle yourself in a diverse atmosphere. They cost you endless educational opportunities, exposure to social movements, and the expansive experience the UW is responsible for providing you to succeed in all walks of life. Your happy days of “sifting and winnowing” are over — the Student Services Finance Committee has spoken, and it has said that it just doesn’t care.
I am a dissenting member of SSFC. I believe that MEChA and DES provide absolutely crucial aspects of my education outside the classroom, and I am shocked and outraged that the people on SSFC who claim to represent you and me have refused to allow these groups to provide their services to this campus. Now is the time to tell SSFC you won’t let them do this to you, their constituents. Come to the next SSFC meeting, this Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Union TITU, and tell them the value of your education. This is your degree and your future they are deciding.
Faith Kurtyka is a junior majoring in English. She is a member of the SSFC and co-chair of the Student Fee Defenders.