In response to recent budget debates in the Wisconsin legislature, the Associated Students of Madison will host a rally Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. on Library Mall.
\The legislators right now are campaigning to pass the buck from themselves from being accountable onto students' backs because they believe that students don't care,"" said Scott Spector, ASM campus relations committee intern and UW-Madison senior. ""We're trying to show them that we are a solid voice, and we are not going to sit idly by as our tuition gets raised without our input.""
The state budget that the Assembly passed last week included a 7 percent cut to the UW System. According to Spector, this cut would ultimately mean cuts to programming on the UW-Madison campus, such as financial aid for study abroad, while also bringing an 8 percent increase to in-state tuition and a 23 percent increase to out-of-state tuition.
""A 23 percent increase is not acceptable,"" he said. ""When I started at the university, tuition was a little under $12,000 a year. Next year, if I were to stay, tuition would be over $19,000. So, in five years, we're talking about an $8,000 increase in out of state tuition.""
Although the Senate has planned a forum for students at the UW-Madison campus to discuss the budget, it is scheduled for the Tuesday during spring break.
With this in mind, ASM Chair and UW-Madison senior Jessica Miller said she felt it was important to organize something now to allow the student voice to be heard.
""When the Assembly passed their budget last Monday, there were lots of responses from other groups,"" she said. ""There were responses from the Board of Regents, from the administration [and] from different news sources, [but] there was no response from students'no voice on behalf of students.""
Wednesday's rally is sponsored by ASM in conjunction with WisPIRG, the Campus Women's Center and United Council. It is a nonpartisan gathering of these groups that is expected to commence with speakers at Library Mall before the students march to the Capitol.
