The ASM ballot currently before students asks voters to determine whether they support a $170 million renovation and improvement of Memorial Union and Union South. This editorial board encourages students to vote in favor of the initiative.
The Wisconsin Union Facilities Improvement Plan referendum asks students to approve a $96 raise in segregated fees per semester begining in Fall 2007. The fee increase would fund the 30-year project with aims to produce positive and necessary improvements of our student union facilities.
Unlike tuition hikes that produce no tangible benefit to students, WUFIP would update the antiquated Memorial Union fire alarm system (circa 1978), increase accessibility and improve energy consumption, among other improvements. WUFIP would also construct a new and improved, energy-efficient Union South designed to maximize space and student services.
Since the Wisconsin Union does not receive money from the state or university, the responsibility to support this plan falls to the students. In 1928, the student body set a precedent for student support of the Union by pledging $50 each toward the initial construction effort.
If passed, today's renovation referendum would rely on 58 percent segregated fees and 42 percent private funding. The percentage paid by students can never increase and may decrease over time if the influx of other funding exceeds 42 percent.
Opponents of WUFIP have vilified the referendum with the contention the plan pandered to corporate interests and ignored student concerns, but these claims proved unequivocally false. WUFIP accepted no corporate kickbacks\ throughout the duration of its marketing and planning phase and has no future intentions to do so.
If passed, a student-majority Union Council would oversee the plan, keeping the Union in the student hands. If rejected, Union South could become University property, which would ensure corporate ""usurpation.""
Currently, the Wisconsin Union Directorate estimates that it rejects about 1,300 student organization events and meetings each year for lack of sufficient facilities, forcing groups to pay for commercial venues. WUFIP would provide the space required to fulfill these 1,300 requests.
Both unions require drastic changes, and the WUFIP referendum grants students the opportunity to support these essential improvements. In two years, the cost of a project this ambitious will increase about $12 to $20 million. We believe it is timely and necessary for students to support WUFIP.
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