Although the hunger strike in which I participated last week received significant media attention, our message has not been articulated directly to the student body. Rather than relying on the filter of news reporters and editorial boards, I would like to personally address the cause of our 72-hour fast.
We decided to go on strike because United Council of UW Students, the bureaucratic lobbying group which is supposed to represent students, let us down. After the rally against tuition hikes Feb. 24, we proceeded with a student lobby day as planned, only to discover that UC's president, an appointed non-student, had vetoed the elected student assembly's plan to lobby for a tuition freeze.
That's right-United Council wanted to hike our tuition, just a little less than Doyle and the legislature.
In the last two years, UW-Madison tuition has gone up more than $1,400 for a year of in-state undergraduate study. The figure is even worse for out-of-state and graduate students. Further, Gov. Jim Doyle's current budget proposal is calling for an additional $1,000 increase over the next two-year period. That's a 56 percent tuition hike over four years.
On the first day of the hunger strike at the Capitol building, two gentlemen approached, and had a brief talk with us. One mentioned that his daughter went to an expensive private school, and both made a point of mocking our strike. Before they walked away, they mentioned they were contract lobbyists working for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the single most powerful lobbying group on Capitol hill.
Wisconsin has the second-lowest corporate tax rate in the nation. Between 1989 and 2003, state revenue from corporate taxes has gone down 43 percent as a proportion of Wisconsin economy. In the same period the state's share of funding the UW system has gone from 37.5 percent to 27.3 percent, and tuition has nearly tripled.
The governor and state legislature could cut our tuition as well as cut personal income and property taxes while fully funding every social program. The problem is they don't want to. The harsh reality is that they care more about pleasing big-business lobbyists giving them fat campaign contributions than they do about Wisconsin families.
There is no reason that in today's America, one of the wealthiest nations on earth, we cannot guarantee quality higher education for little or no cost to all individuals with the merit and willingness to study. Instead, the UW system, which is supposed to be a public institution, is gradually being privatized. This is unacceptable. Tuition is a regressive tax, and it burdens students from working-class backgrounds with debt loads totally unknown to past generations of college students.
Five years ago, students from throughout the UW system won a tuition freeze after an organized walkout calling for free tuition. We are not demanding free tuition this time, but our purpose remains the same. If students are to prevent the next round of tuition hikes, we must begin mobilizing now, while budget negotiations are in process.
Building grassroots pressure is the only means to stop the current trend. We are not politicians or lobbyists, and we do not have multi-million dollar budgets for lobbying and public relations.
We only have ourselves and our voices, so we must make the most of them. The hunger strike was simply the first step of raising awareness. The next step is getting more students involved in the campaign, raising parents' awareness so they contact their legislators, and building more grassroots networks throughout Wisconsin.
If you are interested in getting involved to stop future tuition hikes, contact me at wjanderson@wisc.edu, or attend our meetings every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Red Gym. We must not give up now. We are only beginning this struggle, and it will take the efforts of every student to make it a success.
Bill Anderson is a sophomore and activist in the Student Labor Action Coalition, Green Progressive Alliance, and Stop the War.
