Remedy of a $20 million budget deficit was the focus of a Coalition for Affordable Public Education town hall meeting Thursday.
Presenters at the meeting protested what they perceived as the university balancing its budget at the expense of the graduate program.
The administration commissioned a Tuition Remission Task Force to recommend ways to reduce the 2005 shortfall, with the task force proposing to change how funding for certain graduate fees work. The task force recommended a change in current graduate fee policy, and intended to claim what it suggested was lost revenue.
Unlike most undergraduates, many graduate students are given remissions on their tuitions, meaning they do not have to pay all of their tuition. These remissions and a general lack of funding for the university are seen as reasons behind the 2005 shortfall.
""Remissions are not lost revenue,"" said Eric Schatzberg, chair of the History of Science Department. According to Schatzberg, in order for the University to remain competitive and attract the best graduate students, a less expensive remission policy must be kept intact.
The task force's final recommendations, to be enacted January 1, 2007, will charge anyone on campus who uses project, program or research assistants a fee of $4000 per semester per assistant. A 25 percent fee on each assistant's stipend is currently paid by anyone using PAs or RAs.
Teaching Assistants' Association member Mark Supanich said 300-700 research and project assistanships may be cut if this fee was implemented.
On its website, CAPE says it wants to stop the ""implementation of policies that will negatively impact UW-Madison's ability to attract excellent professors, academic staff, highly qualified graduate employees and ultimately undergraduate students.""
The town meeting Thursday allowed various staff and students to speak on the recommendations. CAPE's alternative proposals include asking for a moratorium on the recommendations, lobbying Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature for greater funding and forming a new task force that includes students.
The idea that the university had to come together to acquire more funding was prevalent the entire night.
""The University should be the largest lobbying force in the state, bar none,"" said state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison. He also said that the recent elections would have made the university less likely to be used as a ""political football.""
