Wisconsin Union Travel Center employees and other UW-Madison students have drawn up a student initiative in hopes of saving the campus-funded Travel Center after Union administration announced Thursday that it would close in Summer 2007.
""The Union is supposed to be run by students for students and a decision like this, that is going to affect so many students, to my knowledge, had no student involvement,"" said Jesse Allhands, UW-Madison junior and founder of the student initiative for the Travel Center.
Allhands, who is a center employee, started the initiative in order to preserve services offered by the Travel Center, such as discounted bus tickets and travel advice, in a centralized location within Union facilities.
With the closing of the center, the functions of the travel center would be carried out in other areas of the Union and elsewhere on campus.
""We denounce such non-student involved decisions,"" said the mission statement.
Hank Walter, Wisconsin Union Associate Director, said administration met with employees and are willing to include them in the process of marketing to students where services will be provided.
""However,"" he said, ""we're not at a point where we could justify rethinking the decision. Financially, I don't know how we would justify it. The budget is getting worse.""
