Activists worry UW’s West Campus District plan not sustainable enough

By Liam Beran CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

Environmental advocates at UW-Madison worry a 30-year plan to redevelop the university’s West Campus District lacks sustainability initiatives needed to combat the climate crisis.

The sweeping plan details a landscape overhaul for an area of “untapped potential” stretching from the Agricultural Engineering Laboratory to the University Hospital that includes new research, housing, dining and parking facilities.

Development will be done in partnership with University Research Park, a UW-Madison affiliate whose agreement with the UW System Board of Regents allows private development on state-owned land. The Board of Regents cannot typically approve projects without the state Legislature’s approval.

However, some students are concerned about the plan’s environmental accommodations. Winston Thompson, an intern with nonprofit climate organization 350 Wisconsin and a member of ASM, told The Daily Cardinal UW-Madison could be doing more for sustainability.

Thompson made posts on both 350 Wisconsin and ASM’s Instagram accounts advis

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Continued from page 2 otherwise would not have a voice on campus,” he told The Daily Cardinal.

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin expressed that, by cutting DEI funding, the Legislature is hurting not only the UW System but the state of Wisconsin as a whole.

“Employers consistently tell us they want and expect students to have experience working with people from diverse backgrounds, and research also shows that diverse teams tend to make better decisions,” Mnookin said in a statement.

Did the cuts stay in the final state budget?

When the state budget passed in July, Evers took action to limit some of the effects of the cuts to DEI initiatives.

Evers issued a veto that prevented the removal of 188 DEIrelated system positions, saying that these positions could be used for any purpose by the UW System. The $32 million budget cut remained in the budget as a separate provision.

“Robin Vos has had it out for the UW System since he’s been in public office,” state Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, told The Daily Cardinal. “It’s particularly unconscionable at a time [when] we have a $7 billion surplus and a massive workforce shortage.”

When asked to comment on how DEI initiatives would be funded in the wake of the budget cut, multiple UW campuses said that comment would have to come from the UW System.

“We are working with chancellors to present a plan to the budget committee for use of the ing students the West Campus District Plan (WCDP) “continues to apply the same unsustainable building practices used for decades in Wisconsin” and recommended students provide feedback to the university.

Thompson’s biggest worries are UW-Madison’s use of fossil fuels, the impact of demolitions on Lake Mendota and housing affordability.

“Historically, [UW-Madison] has shown a lack of commitment to sustainability,” Thompson said.

Thompson also singled out the lack of sustainability initiatives in university materials. In his view, UW-Madison would’ve marketed sustainability initiatives had they been included in the plan.

As of August 8, the WCDP website uses the word sustainability once — to describe the role of Affiliated Engineers Inc., the mechanical, electrical and plumbing and sustainability partner, in the plan.

Although a March 2023 presentation to the Board of Regents estimated “making district plan recommendations to the [Board] in July 2023,” John Lucas, vice chancellor of communications at UW-Madison, said the plan currently has “no set date for finalization.”

Lucas added the plan is still in early stages, but it will be developed in conjunction with campus sustainability initiatives to minimize environmental impacts.

350 Wisconsin’s recommendations to increase sustainability in the West Campus plan include adding LEED sustainability certifications for buildings, heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle charging, Thompson said.

Lot 60, the university’s largest surface-level parking lot, poses a lingering question, with community feedback causing planning on the lot to shift to a later date.

Thompson proposed increased public transit in lieu of expansions to parking, but recognized many low-income workers rely on Lot 60 for parking. Without other parking solutions, Thompson said he wouldn’t support eliminating it or other lots.

District 8 Alder MGR Govindarajan, a member of the Joint Campus Area Committee composed of both Madison and UW System representatives, said UW-Madison is working with the committee to incorporate public concerns.

Thompson similarly said the university voiced intent to discuss suggestions with 350 Wisconsin.

UW-Madison officials held three open house events in

February to hear student and community feedback on the West Campus plan. But Thompson and Govindarajan worry about UW-Madison engaging in feedback conferences during the summer, when students may be less likely to be engaged in conversations about the plan’s future.

“There’s been a lot of frustration from students who don’t realize that there’s a major construction project, a 30-year plan, that’s going to be happening on a big part of campus,” Thompson said. “I think they’ve been frus-

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“We really can’t afford to not get organized — if we wait any longer, we won’t have anywhere to live,” they said.

With the nation’s highest yearover-year rises in rent, Madison is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live on a graduate’s worker stipend. A March report from Apartment List found Madison’s average rent increased 14.4% in 2022, a staggering figure compared to nearby Minneapolis (0.2%) and Milwaukee (3.2%).

Research is crucial to progression in graduate and doctoral programs, Jones explained, but teaching is not.

And without a clear plan for sustainability strategies, Thompson worried the negative environmental impacts of the plan’s 30-year implementation could last well beyond 30 years.

“It’s crazy to think that 80 years from now, when people [currently] going to school have grandchildren, their grandchildren could be going to school with buildings not up to what they should be with the climate crisis.”

Examples Jones gave included TAs asked to rewrite the lab the night before the lab section so that it better matched the lecture their professor gave that morning or having to “make up labs from scratch.” That’s not how it’s supposed to work, Jones said — professors typically make content while TAs modify and present it.

“Some people have manageable workloads at full pay, other people unreasonable expectations at half pay,” Jones stated. “This is a big problem.”

$32 million they are holding in reserve. We remain committed to our efforts to ensure student success,” the emailed statement reads from Mark Pitsch.

How diverse are UW schools?

Data indicates a decrease in enrollment and retention of underrepresented and minority students, which includes students of color, first-generation students and those from low-income backgrounds. These students are typically supported by DEI efforts in educational settings.

Between 2012 and 2022, the amount of African American students enrolled as a percentage of total enrollment decreased from 3.1% to 2.9% across the system, according to the UW System’s Accountability Dashboard. This trend continued for nearly all students of color except Hispanic students, which saw a large increase in enrollment percentages.

Graduation retention rates for underrepresented students have also declined. The rate of students that graduated in five years or less between 2007 and 2016 dropped by 8%, whereas it decreased by 6% for students who were not underrepresented in the same period.

These cuts to DEI programming and funding in UW System also come amongst possible campus closures and cuts to staffing due, in part, to budget shortfalls.

State support for the UW System has gone from over 40% of the UW budget to somewhere around 15% over the past 40 years, according to Roys. She said funding from the state budget is paramount for public universities, which usually lack the donor networks and private endowments of private universities.

“The UW has been trying to do more with less, especially in recent years, given the very deep cuts that were made under the previous Republican administration,” Roys said.

“Teaching is completely extra,” he said. “But your coursework and research expectations remain exactly the same.”

Jones described feeling like he was falling behind his peers while working as a TA for six semesters. He was initially excited to teach but frustrated to find that it held him back.

“If you’re a good TA and you put in a lot of time for your students, you see no benefit,” he said. “You go to your committee meeting and they ask about your research.”

Both Jones and Morgenstern attributed discontent amongst graduate student workers to feeling undervalued for their work and seeing little reward for a lot of effort. Although Jones’ experiences were with “nice professors who set clear expectations,” he knows the workload is “really high” for others.

Jones described instances where TAs were asked to go above and beyond normal expectations — which, for a contracted position like a TA appointment, draws no additional compensation.

Morgenstern, who teaches Introduction to Chemistry said TAs are responsible for grading, but also guiding students through their first experience with failure and helping them decouple their performance in a class from their identity. It’s emotional labor that often goes “100% unrecognized,” they said.

Morgenstern is contracted to spend 20 hours a week working as a TA, but they said that does not reflect the time they invest “thoughtfully” preparing for discussion and lab as well as giving thorough feedback while grading.

“I have to choose between working my contract hours and actually being the good teacher that my students deserve,” Morgenstern said.

The pressure to focus on research over students for career success makes them feel like “just a cog in the machine to the university” unable to use their experience and expertise while teaching in a way valued by their department.

“So many grad students that I’ve talked to love their work teaching and researching,” Morgenstern said. “But there is a growing understanding that we are the backbone to the way the university functions, and they should be paying us a wage that reflects that.”