Keeping a consistent vision at UWM

When Scott Walker's budget came out last week, many people asked how UWM would adapt to the massive changes scheduled to blow through the campus.

Under the last line of the "Education" section of the budget, Walker lists his vision for our campus. UWM is to begin implementing reforms that will lead to us becoming a "private authority," Think Marquette. Now as most of us know, UW-Milwaukee doesn't quite have the millionaire-alumni backbone that Marquette does. If we want to build on campus, we pay for it ourselves by taking out loans that cost us for decades. We don't get building donated and we don't survive off of handouts from the rich. Milwaukee is solidly middle-class, and proud of it.

We educate more Wisconsin residents than any other University in the State, and our goal is to shape the minds of our future lawyers, doctors and teachers. We cannot be who we are, who our community NEEDS us to be, as a private school. Our tuition will rise, our state funding will diminish. The diversity and multiculturalism we hold dear will disappear as middle-class and lower-class students are priced out of an education in their home city.

If elected this April, ASAP will fight to keep tuition affordable for our students. We will ensure that even if UWM makes moves towards privatization, the quality and mission of our campus will not change. We will do everything within our power to resist a fundamental change to our University.

In the meantime, I'll try to avoid harping on and on about the coming attempts at privatization. ASAP has a dedication to improving life on campus in many other ways, and although we certainly will have a important battle on our hands, we will not forget our pledge to RENEW, TRANSFORM and PROGRESS our campus.

I'll update sometime next week when the ballots are finalized.

Alex.

P.S. ASAP has finished the signature process, and has a membership of 37 senatorial candidates, making us the largest party ever!

A proxy of our website is currently up at:

www.asap2011.digitaldbo.com