Langdon Street is one of the most puzzling parts of Madison. All I have to do is walk 100 yards west of Memorial Union to encounter a variety of things I can’t find elsewhere on this great Midwestern campus. I see nice cars with New York license plates, groups of Ugg-clad and fake-baked girls talking in accents that would make Carmella Soprano cringe and houses adorned with strange letters I don’t remember learning about in elementary school.

But no matter how far removed from the rest of Madison culture the Greeks may seem, the location of their semi-cult is evidence they understand a crucial element of Madison’s appeal: the lakes.

Have you ever heard a Wisconsinite debate a Minnesotan about which of their states is host to more lakes? Well, it’s pathetic, but nevertheless, it should serve as an indicator of how much we value those cool blue-green bodies of water that dot this state and define this campus. We gravitate toward their gentle breezes during the hot days of summer as well as their melancholic but soothing openness during the bleak days of winter.

For this reason, it makes sense that the foundation of the University of Wisconsin student community — Memorial Union — makes its home on the shores of Lake Mendota. But at the same time, it should also make us wonder why the university made the decision to disregard “the lake doctrine” 40 years ago with the construction of Union South.

Now that you’re up to speed on the stupidity of that decision, imagine how poorly it reflects on our great university when it chose to build another Union South.

I live by Union South. And I’m not proud of it. To me, the fact that I live within the bleak concrete mass of nothingness between Camp Randall and the Kohl Center is a consequence of my reluctance to look farther than across the street during the house-hunting process last fall. The Computer Science and Statistics building may train people more intelligent than me in the crucial skills necessary to sustain our information-technology economy, but its aesthetic value on campus is definitely negative. And there’s nothing more nauseating on a hot day than strolling by the Charter Street Heating and Cooling Plant.

Despite all this, I’ve come to accept not only that the construction of the new Union South is inevitable, but also that it will be a crucial step in the renovation of my hellhole neighborhood.

As Student Council Rep. Jeff Wright explained to me, Memorial Union, despite its superior nostalgic and geographic value, cannot sustain a campus of 40,000 students. Hence, the university owes it to the community to provide another anchor for student activity, inebriation, dining, general study space and all the other aspects of Memorial Union we appreciate — except for the lake, of course.

A new Union South will also appropriately accompany the soon-to-be millions of dollars in new investment in scientific research coming to the neighborhood. The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, a joint state-private venture specializing in biotechnology, stem cell research and all the other good stuff liberal arts majors like myself admire but do not understand, will be adding hundreds of potential Union patrons nearby. The thousands of existing students and faculty in the sciences already demand an outlet besides Subway and the Babcock Dairy.

On the back of the brochure for the Union South project was a pledge to keep the new building from feeling “like an airport terminal.” This acknowledgement of the current state of Union South is the right way to start.

However, hopefully the unfortunate method of raising funds for the new Union will change. Currently, student segregated fees are slated to pay for $64 million of the $67 million price tag for construction. That means those of us paying tuition after 2009 will be paying $96 per semester to finance what better be a damn good improvement from the Cold War-era bomb shelter we’ve got now. This will continue for the next 30 years.

If ever, now would be an appropriate time for the Associated Students of Madison to register as a lobby to try to get Union South some love from the Capitol. No, Steve Nass and company aren’t going to deliver any time soon, but 30 years is a long time. There just might be a time when financing a state university with state funds becomes a fad. When that time comes, hopefully those salaried representatives of our student body will be there to capitalize.

Jack Craver ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in history.