The UW Board of Regents' Capital Planning Committee voted to demolish Brothers Bar and Grill on University Avenue as early as this summer and approved the renovations slated for the UW-Madison Memorial Union Thursday.
According to Alan Fish, UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning and Management, the bar is leasing from UW-Madison.
The university plans to use the space for a new Music Performance Facility.
Also at the meeting, the committee approved the renovations planned for the UW-Madison Memorial Union.
Memorial Union Renovations Manager Colin Plunkett said the preliminary decision makes him hopeful for the rest of the approval process.
"I'm extremely happy about the decision; it definitely makes me feel hopeful," said Plunkett. "We had some initial pushback and I feel that the open forums made the project better."
The entire board will vote on the renovations Friday. If approved, the decision will then be sent to the city and state.
Chancellor David Ward addressed the board, calling for a forward-thinking approach to economic sustainability for the university in light of recent budget cuts from the state.
Ward said state funding and tuition revenue no longer cover the base costs it takes to run the university.
"Since 1945, there has been a pendulum of bad times and good times [economically]," said Ward. "The problem is beginning in the late 1990s and throughout the last decade, the pendulum has fallen off its pin."
Instead of solely relying on the traditional model of state funding and tuition payments as the base of the university budget, Ward said revenue from philanthropy and research and technology transfer should take a more important role in comprising the budget.
"We're going to need help in our base budget from some of our gifts," said Ward.
Ward said schools should not rely on tuition increases to make up for budget problems.
"I think there is a loan hub created by tuition, and the substitution of loans for grants means that we need to be extremely prudent in how we develop tuition policy," Ward said.
Also at the meeting, Regent President Michael Spector introduced Tim Higgins, Gary Roberts and Gerald Whitburn as new members of the Board of Regents.
