Union members protesting the hire of privately employed food service workers interrupted the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery's grand opening ceremony Wednesday.
Alex Hanna, co-president of the Teaching Assistants Association, was among those leading the protest. Hanna said he felt an appearance at the grand opening of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery was necessary because of the privatization of the food services.
""We see this as the first step and we see it as a continuing process,"" he said. ""We are standing up for all the food service workers on campus.""
Member of the Student Labor Action Coalition also participated in the protest.
""The SLAC has developed a really good relationship with the Local 171,"" SLAC member Daniel Cox said at an earlier protest. ""As students, how our university treats its campus workers truly matters to us.""
The protestors continued to chant and interrupt throughout the opening ceremony until they were escorted out by police officers. Police were then stationed at each set of doors on University Avenue.
The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery's mission is to create opportunities for scientists and the public to interact.
Chancellor Biddy Martin said she was excited about the completion of the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery.
""This facility is an extraordinary and spectacular facility, not only because of the beauty of the facility itself, but because of the interdisciplinary science and all of the outreach, education and humanistic and social scientific work that will occur in this facility,"" Martin said.
Gov. Jim Doyle also spoke at the ceremony.
""I believe when I look at this I can truly say that it can only happen at the University of [Wisconsin] Madison,"" Doyle said. ""We have an absolute show piece for the entire world to see what the University of Wisconsin-Madison is all about.""
John Morgridge, founder of the Morgridge Institute for Discovery and donator of $50 million to the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery said the building is more than just a structure and spoke directly to the union protestors.
""We didn't build just a structure here but we also build a human structure,"" Morgridge said. ""For you union people here, there were probably 500 plus union employees who proudly built this building.""
