About 50 UW-Milwaukee students held a protest rally in front of Chapman Hall last Tuesday demanding the university administration stop tuition hikes, budget cuts and salary decreases.
Students and youth across the country raised their voices, demanding that education is a right on the National Day of Action for Education Rights. But university officials say that decisions relating to tuition hikes and budget cuts are made at the state level and not on campus.
Jacob Flom with the Education Rights Campaign and Students for Democratic Society stated that UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago took a significant pay raise and “gave high level administrators a three percent raise while giving most professors and faculty a three percent cut.”
However, UWM vice chancellor for university relations Tom Luljak said that Flom’s assertion is incorrect. He noted that the Chancellor’s base pay for 2009-10 is $280,550. Eight required furlough days will cut off $8,599, making his actual salary for the year $271,951.
“Claims that the Chancellor took a significant pay raise and gave a three percent raise to campus administrators this year are not true,” Luljak told the Post. “Like all UW System employees, the Chancellor and members of his cabinet did not receive the two percent pay raise that had been scheduled for June of this year.”
The Education Rights Campaign rallied for four specific things:
“Chop from the Top” The Campaign wants Chancellor Santiago and high level administrators to take pay cuts from their six-figure salaries instead of cutting the salaries of faculty and staff.
“Transparency Now” The demand that staff, faculty and students be part of the UWM’s decision making process.
“Education First” A tuition freeze and increased money for need-based scholarships.
“Academic Freedom” A right for students and employees to form unions and other associations on campus, and have free, fair and open discussion of issues on campus.
Erik Sperling is a UWM student and a member of the Progressive Students of Milwaukee who feels that tuition is too high. “The cost of education is going up every year it’s essential that we move towards a system that guarantees education,” Sperling said.
Sperling stated that he feels the strain of high tuition and tries to get by without buying textbooks simply because the cost is too high.
Luljak said that UWM shares students’ concerns over tuition. He pointed out that the UW System Board of Regents, not Chancellor Santiago, sets tuition for all campuses including UWM. He said that tuition increases were a result of significant budget cuts from the state to the UW System.
“In order to help students deal with rising tuition, UWM administrators have lobbied aggressively for increases in student grants and loans,” said Luljak. “During the recent capital campaign, UWM raised $29 million to be used exclusively for student scholarships.”
Cathy Kaye, a UWM professor of English as a Second Language, said this past summer, many professors were promised a two percent pay increase later this year, but it had to be postponed, and she and many of her peers accepted a three percent cut.
The days she has off without pay, Kaye said, has increased to eight. When asked why she is still teaching, she mentioned, “I can’t give less than the best to my students, I love my students.”
*Kevin Lessmiller contributed to this report.*
I was under the impression that only public K-12 education was a right, and that higher education was a privilege.
That’s the same 19th century thinking that will slow this nation down in the 21st century.
That’s the same 19th century thinking that will slow this nation down in the 21st century.
That’s the same 19th century thinking that will slow this nation down in the 21st century.