Similar to the unclear future of the wage increase for student workers, implementation of the heavily campaigned Student Union Initiative, a Wisconsin Union renovation project funded by student segregated fees, is now questionable as well.
A group of six students filed a complaint Friday against the Associated Students of Madison Elections Commission, denouncing the SUI—the referendum that passed with 64.9 percent of the vote during the ASM Fall 2006 elections Oct. 24.
The SUI, devoted to renovating Memorial Union and reconstructing a ""green"" Union South, would be funded by student segregated fees for up to 30 years.
The complaint, filed by UW-Madison first-year law student Patrick Elliot, declared the UW System Board of Regents, not the student body ""has the ultimate authority to determine the budgeting of Segregated University Fees,"" and that students do not have control over non-allocable fees.
UW-Madison Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell used the same argument to question implementation of the living wage initiative last week.
Student Labor Action Coalition member Ashok Kumar said the university's opposition to the living wage and simultaneous silence on the SUI is hypocritical.
""It's just a question of which one the administration ideologically opposes and ideologically supports,"" he said.
The complaint also stated the SUI's wording made it appear legally binding and that the ""all or nothing"" campaign forcing students to vote for both unions' renovations limited student input.
""Some students are very passionate about Memorial Union and may not care about Union South,"" Elliot said.
""I do not think that we have ever at all been intentionally misleading,"" Wisconsin Union President and UW-Madison senior Shayna Hetzel said, noting the appeal appeared to contain conflicting complaints, including hints that the entire election should be nullified and requests of the Student Judiciary to consider the referendum as either binding or advisory.
""All initiatives are advisory,"" she said, explaining that initiatives are worded as if they are binding because that is the language the chancellor receives if a referendum passes. ""It's up to him now to take it or leave it.""
The complaint also declared that the large amount of money at stake and the 30-year span of the SUI infringe on the right of future students to govern themselves.
According to UW-Madison junior Josh Tyack, Chief Justice of ASM Student Judiciary, a panel of justices including himself and two others, will hear the complaint according to the ASM Constitution and Bylaws.
As of press time, no complaints regarding the living wage initiative had been filed.
