from The Daily Cardinal - 9/30/04
UW, state officials hold forum on budget cuts
By
Laura-Claire Corson
To discuss the recent state budget cuts that have affected UW-Madison, the Student Labor Action Coalition held a forum on Wednesday night titled "The Fight for Funding."
The panel included state Assembly member Spencer Black, D-Madison, student Regent Beth Richlen and Associated Students of Madison Vice Chair Cedric Lawson. Ben Manski, a member of the UW-Madison community who was involved in groups fighting funding cuts in the 1990s, also participated.
According to the information sheet handed out at the beginning of the program, tuition increased $1,400 per semester over the past two years, totaling $150 million extra. It was the largest tuition increase in the university's history. Due to the increase, several aspects of university life-including cutting classes, stalled diversity programs and teaching-assistants' health-care-have been affected.
"It's true that students are paying more for less," Black said. "What the state budget costs did to the university was cut the quality of university life. Tuition increases and increases. There has been a 35 percent increase in tuition."
From 1980 to 2002, tuition increased 234 percent, according to Manski. Though Richlen agreed with the rest of the panelists that students pay more for less quality, she voted for the tuition increase. However, she believed her decision benefited the student body as a whole.
"I voted for the tuition increase because it was coupled with an increase in the GPR (general purpose revenue)," Richlen said. "It was a reinvestment from the state and a lot of the funding went to financial aid. It was a compromise I was willing to take because it was in the best interest of the majority of students."
The panel also discussed an ongoing problem for racial minority students on campus. Plan 2008, passed in 1998 with the purpose of helping bring diversity to campus, was a vaguely drawn-out chart, according to the panelists. However, Manski said the lack of accountability, targets and no "hard money" are not primary reasons for Plan 2008's slow implementation.
Another primary topic was the zero-cost health care concern for state workers, including university TAs. The issue stemmed from the TAA strike last spring, in which there is still no contract and the issue is not yet resolved, according to Manski.
All panelists stressed student involvement, whether it is individual or group contribution.
"Students need to be strong advocates for the university," Black said. "It's your job to advocate for your interests."