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Monday, February 9, 2009
UW System tuitions rise, grants frozen KYLE BURSAW/THE DAILY CARDINAL
District 8 candidates Bryon Eagon, Katrina Flores, Jacob Schmidt and Mark Woulf (left to right) debated issues ranging from campus safety to bar policies Sunday night in the Humanities building.
District 8 hopefuls push safety plans By Ryan Hebel THE DAILY CARDINAL
Campus safety, bar policies and tenants’ rights issues highlighted Sunday night’s first and only District 8 alder debate in the Humanities building. The four candidates for Madison’s largely student district— Bryon Eagon, Katrina Flores, Jacob Schmidt and Mark Woulf—placed student safety as their top priority. Schmidt, a UW-Madison student, stressed “safety starts at the home,” with students being aware of their right to live in safe housing. He proposed expanding current District 8 Ald. Eli Judge’s Downtown Lighting Initiative, giving more grants to local property owners to light up dark streets. Flores, a UW-Madison graduate and community organizer, said she would increase the number of blue phones on campus, specifi-
cally in areas like Langdon Street, that would allow students to contact police in case of emergency. Woulf, a UW-Madison junior, disagreed with Flores. He said communicating with officers is not the problem since most students carry cell phones. Instead, Woulf, who recently spoke out against police accessibility after a student mugging, proposed shifting officers away from bars and house parties and onto the streets. Woulf also plans to encourage bar owners to purchase entertainment licenses that would allow 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds into bars. This, he said, would provide safe venues for minors while also “concentrating the area to bring law enforcement out onto the street.” Although his opponents also proposed increasing entertainment licenses, Woulf said he would “broaden the definition of ‘entertainment’” to
include televised sporting games. Eagon, a UW student, said one way to decrease bar raids and curb city spending would be to cut the mobilized e-scanners currently used by police during bar raids. Eagon also proposed increasing neighborhood watch programs on campus. The candidates agreed landlordtenant relationships in Madison are, as Flores noted, “tumultuous.” Each called for raising tenant-rights awareness among students. Flores said the Tenant Bill of Rights should be posted in all properties, and Eagon said the university should do more to educate freshmen and set up a system for building inspectors to rate landlords. The District 8 election will be held in April. Students are encouraged to check out the candidates’ websites for further proposals.
Regents also OK increased budget for Union South By Hannah Furfaro THE DAILY CARDINAL
The UW System Board of Regents discussed increasing tuitions, decreasing endowments and a larger-than-expected budget for the construction of the new Union South at a meeting Friday. UW System President Kevin Reilly announced Friday funds totaling $700,000 from over 30 UW System endowments will be suspended from distribution because their values have dropped. “Rather than further erode the principal, we are taking the prudent steps to preserve these funds for the long term,” Reilly said. According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, the suspension of these funds will have wide-ranging effects. Funds for scholarships and
research throughout the UW System will feel the repercussions of the decrease in funds, Giroux said. He said he expects the suspension to last four quarters. The Board of Regents also passed a resolution to increase the budget for the building of Union South by $7 million to a total of $94.8 million. The total project costs include $3.5 million of gift funding and $87 million in program revenue borrowing. The regents also approved an increase in differential tuition programs at UW-Oshkosh, UWPlatteville and UW-Milwaukee. There were no changes in tuition for existing differential programs at UW-Madison, but such programs will come back up for regular review, Giroux said. On an optimistic note, Kris Andrews, UW System assistant vice president for federal relations, announced expected funds Wisconsin will receive from the pending federal stimulus package. regents page 3
UW-MADISON TUITION & FEES OUT-OF-STATE
BRYON EAGON
KATRINA FLORES “We can encourage the bars to get performing-arts licenses. I think that’s a really good thing in terms of providing alternative ways for folks to get engaged who are under 21.”
“As students, first-time renters, we don’t know our rights, and one way to know our rights is to include that in our [lease] contracts.”
’02-’03 ’03-’04 ’04-’05 ’05-’06 ’06-’07
$4,423 $5,136 $5,862 $6,280 $6,726
$18,424 $19,136 $19,862 $20,280 $20,726
IN-STATE
“[The Downtown Lighting Initiative] is key because I feel like the worst-lit areas of our campus are in the alleys between our houses.”
“Under my plan, the bar raids would pretty much be completely wiped out … I think we can all agree that underage drinking is not something that’s going to be curbed.”
JACOB SCHMIDT
MARK WOULF
SOURCE: UW System Fact Book ’08-’09
Students protest to freeze tuition in harsh economy By Brandice Altfillisch
Charter heating plant to burn biomass, discontinue coal use By Britney Tripp THE DAILY CARDINAL
Gov. Jim Doyle announced Friday the Charter Street Heating Plant will switch from burning coal to biomass, a significant step toward reducing emissions in Dane County and the state. UW-Madison operates the Charter Street plant, which was found in 2007 to have violated the Clean Air Act limits on emissions. A new boiler will burn up to 100 percent biomass, including wood
chips and switchgrass pellets, and will be backed up by natural gas. The boiler is expected to be ready in 2012 and will provide heating and cooling for the UW-Madison campus, according to a statement from Doyle. Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities at UW-Madison, said the announcement was a “huge moment for the campus” and the state’s investment of more than $200,000 will move the campus away from the
19th-century technology of coalburning boilers. “Instead of burning 110,000 tons of coal every year, we’ll be burning up to 250,000 tons of biofuels that are grown right here in Wisconsin,” Fish said. According to Fish, the university is also looking at ways to convert the Charter Street plant into a research center for biofuels. charter page 3
JAKE VICTOR/THE DAILY CARDINAL
THE DAILY CARDINAL
Members and advocates of the United Council of UW Students gathered Saturday outside the Student Activity Center to rally against the potential rise of tuition in the UW System. Despite the windy weather, students from over half of the 26 UW campuses promoted the 2009-2011 Statewide Biennial Budget Campaign. Autumn Prazuch, a sophomore at UW-Marathon
County, said the group’s main objective is to persuade the state Legislature to freeze or lower tuition. “[Administrators are] talking about cutting financial aid, and we really want to support higher education so that more people can go to college and be able to afford to stay here,” she said. Participants began the rally by chanting, “Students united will never be defeated.” rally page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”