Coastal students at UW-Madison, commonly known as Coasties, have started an effort to address income inequality after listening to their econ professor, Daveed Johnston, talk for two minutes and then tune out everything that applied to them.
This groundbreaking proposal includes an initiative from greek life at Madison to provide for the houseless community, in which they plan to raise hundreds of dollars on their instagram bingo stories so they can collectively buy one singular Canada Goose Jacket.
“It’s really depressing for me personally to see people freezing during the winter,” said one volunteer, Cam Rogerson. “And this way I know it will go to something totally useful for one person, instead of like junk food or alcohol, you know?”
Coasties are also planning on creating a lottery system for residence halls and luxury apartments like The James and The Hub where a lot of them currently reside.
Sarah Allen explained that this initiative has given back to the Coastie community as well, because it has taught them how to spend their money.
“My dad said he knows they wouldn’t be able to afford where I live normally, because of their lack of initiative,” said Sarah. “It feels really good to give back. I really think I’m making my contribution to the community and to society — I feel like a modern day Jane Addams with her Hull houses.”
The effort also suggests that when the Hub 2 is built, it will also be included in the lottery. It’s the least they can do considering that the needless luxury buildings they live in are part of the reason the rent has increased 23% over the last five years.
While income inequality and homelessness persist in our beloved city, it’s nice to know that we can count on our student population to do something about it rather than our actual municipal government.