After reading past articles in the Badger Herald about the Wisconsin Union, we felt the campus should know more about the Wisconsin Union’s referendum process, distribution of segregated fees and student leadership program. We refer to recent Herald articles, including the Op-ed published on April 4, as well as the March 30 piece featuring grossly inaccurate comments alleging that the Union used student segregated fees to campaign to build the new Union. This letter will attempt to clear up some of the misconceptions often associated with the Wisconsin Union.
First, a note about the place and mission of the Wisconsin Union in this city. Memorial Union was built over 75 years ago with the aim of being the heart and soul of campus: a place where every single student could feel welcome and where lifelong relationships and connections were made. In 1928, Union Council was created, becoming the first shared governance board on this campus. The old Union South was built in the 1970s because one Union could no longer accommodate the huge influx in campus population. Furthermore, the Union provides hundreds of students with leadership experience and career skills through the Union’s leadership and campus programming organization, Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD). The dedicated, campus-serving students in WUD implement over a thousand events every year – films, dances, concerts, volunteering trips, art shows, lectures, theater events and more. Almost all these events are free, so they are accessible to any Madison student.
The Union is iconic – Babcock ice cream, summer concerts on the Terrace, pitchers in Der Rathskeller – these are bywords familiar to every Madisonian. Countless relationships and connections to campus have been fostered through these iconic recreational spaces, as well as the work of WUD.
However, it became apparent in the last decade that wear-and-tear and the limitations of dated architectural efforts were holding the Union back. (Think holes in the ceilings, a lack of ADA accessibility throughout the buildings and Union South embodying all that was terrible about 70s architecture.) Enter the Building Project, which is the rebuilding of Union South and the phased renovation of Memorial Union. The first phase of the project is nearly complete: the beautiful and eco-friendly Union South, which opens on April 15, 2011. For more detailed information please visit the website at: http://www.unionreinvestment.wisc.edu/index.html.
The Building Project is funded in part by a segregated fee increase of $96 per student (a decision voted on by students in a referendum on the semesterly Associated Students of Madison ballot.) It is commonly reported that three attempts to pass the Building Project referendum were needed before it succeeded by a very small margin, making it sound as if the Union simply put the matter on the ballot enough times until the campus relented. The real story is much more nuanced and much less negative. You can read about it here: http://bit.ly/fD5Ojf. We assert that no segregated fees were used to fund campaign efforts, that the repeated efforts were more due to technical error by computer systems than lack of interest, that the “low voter turnout” often referenced in articles was 7% (average for ASM election turnout in the past six years) and that to date, 36,000 students have been involved in the process. All these claims are elaborated on and substantiated in the aforementioned link.
A small portion of student segregated fees have historically gone towards facility operating costs (think keeping the lights on and the floors clean) in Memorial Union. That, and the voted-on increase to fund the Building Project, are the only two causes toward which student segregated fees go. No segregated fees go toward WUD or its programs. It is pertinent to note the Union provides meeting rooms for hundreds of student organizations to operate out of and is a building every campus tour of prospective students visits, giving possible students perspective on UW-Madison campus life. The Building Project is a vital investment in the future of our wonderful campus, and it has and will continue to be conducted in an conscientious, student-focused and inclusive manner.
We have seen the new Union South, and it exceeds our expectations in every way. SOAR and Visitor Information services will be based out of this impressive new building, contributing, no doubt, to even more promising students choosing this campus over others. We would love to invite the author of Wednesday’s Op-ed piece, and any members of the Herald’s editorial staff who are interested, to a private tour of the new Union South before it opens April 15, and trust they will find it as exciting and impressive as we have.
Katie Fischer, Patrick Callan and Sarah Mathews
Students and Wisconsin Union enthusiasts
