By Matt Johnson
Special to The Daily Cardinal
In 1904, UW President Charles Van Hise articulated the mission of the University of Wisconsin when he said we should never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state.\
For the University of Wisconsin to fulfill this commitment, a UW education must be accessible to every student regardless of background, and the University must respect the rights of its students and employees. The ASM elections this week will give UW-Madison students the opportunity to vote on two proposals that will determine UW's ability to live up to this
commitment and its obligations as a public university.
The first, the Wisconsin Union Facilities Improvement Plan, would drastically raise student segregated fees, by as much as $192 per year, to ""renovate"" Memorial Union and build a new Union South.
Students already face yearly tuition hikes, and recent studies indicate that working-class and even middle-class students are being driven away from selective universities, including ours, because of the high cost of attendance.
A tuition hike of nearly $200, on top of the seemingly inevitable annual increase, will further exclude working- and middle-class students from considering a UW education.
If WUFIP passes and seg fees are raised, it will mean that next year's freshman class will include fewer working- and middle-class students and fewer people of color. At this point, we can hardly afford a tuition hike that will make UW less accessible to those of us who are not among the nation's socio-economic elite.
The second proposal, the Living Wage Inititiave, would ensure a living wage to every worker, student and non-student alike, at Memorial Union, Union South, the Recreational Sports Facilities and University Health Services. Passage of this initiative would raise the wages of hundreds of workers that currently earn as little as $7.25 to at least $10.23 an hour.
Students come to UW-Madison not to spend hours scooping ice cream for paltry wages, but to study at a world-class university. Some students, those from very affluent families, can fully devote themselves to studying. Many others are obligated to spend hours working at part-time jobs—time that could otherwise be used to study.
The ability to focus on studying—and the resulting academic success—should not be apportioned according to students' financial background. A living wage would help correct this iniquity by allowing student workers to spend less time working and more time studying.
The Living Wage Initiative would also raise the pay of Limited Term Employees who receive no benefits, cannot legally join labor unions and are often compelled to work a second or even third job to support their families.
If the University of Wisconsin is truly committed to being a ""beneficent influence"" in the lives of every family in Wisconsin, that must surely preclude paying poverty wages to the workers who clean and cook in university facilities. LTE abuse has gone unmitigated for decades, but now students will have the opportunity to make it clear that we will accept nothing less than just compensation for university employees.
During the ASM elections this week, we have the unique opportunity to take a step towards making UW a truly public university—an institution where the highest priority is promoting the public good, where the student body is representative of the public body and where every student can succeed, academically and otherwise.
Take a few minutes this week to sit down at a computer and vote to make UW the kind of university you can be proud to attend. Say ""No"" to WUFIP and the additional financial burden it represents. Say ""Yes"" to respect for student workers and LTEs —say ""Yes"" to the Living Wage Initiative.
Matt Johnson is a member of the Student Labor Action Committee.\
