As the spring semester comes to a close, the UWM Post takes a look back on some of the stories and events that have shaped the year on campus.

Displaced Katrina victims find a home at UWM

The year began on a somber note, as the entire country was coping with the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. The storm tore through the southern United States about a week before fall classes started and devastated the Gulf Coast region, namely the city of New Orleans.

Twenty-two displaced students from that area were admitted to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and attended for the fall semester while efforts to repair the area took place.

Cramped dorms; new projects underway

Overcrowding in Sandburg Hall angered many dorm residents as they were forced to live with extra roommates as the year began. Many single, double and triple rooms were adjusted to house an extra person.

Numerous residents quickly moved out and found different living situations. The problem subsided as the year progressed, with many rooms returning to their normal capacity at the beginning of the spring semester.

With the new Kenilworth Square apartments becoming available in the fall and the proposed Riverwest housing project aiming for a 2007 opening date, there is hope that housing shortage issues will be resolved in the near future.

Business school gets new name

Milwaukee philanthropist and businessman Sheldon B. Lubar donated a record $10 million to the UWM School of Business Administration in early February. The donation will be put toward attracting talented and accomplished faculty members to the school, as well as more opportunities for scholarships.

In honor of the donation, the UW System Board of Regents voted to change the name of the school to the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. The building has also been renamed in his honor.

Panthers make the Sweet 16

The Panthers athletic program continued its success on the playing field this year, as several teams won their division and made a splash on the national scene.

While the men’s basketball team fell just short of getting to its second consecutive Sweet 16, the Panthers did manage to win the Horizon League once again and upset the favored Oklahoma Sooners in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball all captured the Horizon League crown, making UWM the premier athletic program in the Horizon.

Pavilion gives the Klotsche Center a much-needed facelift

The new Klotsche Center addition opened in January, with over 8,000 square feet of cardio and weight training space and four new basketball courts available for student use.

The facility represents an enormous upgrade over the older section of the center, which was often overwhelmed by the number of students fighting over a very limited amount of equipment. The new addition is much more suitable and accommodating for the large number of students that frequent the center.

WISPIRG fights for funding

The Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group has been attempting to get an appeal heard all semester following a funding cut in December. Funds were allocated to WISPIRG at a Dec. 4 Student Association meeting but got line-item vetoed by President Russ Rueden, who labeled the organization as non-critical to the university.

The University Student Court has been in flux for the majority of the year, leaving no formal appeals option open to WISPIRG. An appeal was finally heard and denied by the Appeals Committee of the Senate Finance Committee on April 28. The group voted 5-1 against throwing out the veto.

The Chancellor’s Commission will hear WISPIRG’s next appeal.

Mumps spread throughout Midwest

An outbreak of the mumps has caused the university to urge students to get vaccinated, as 22 possible cases have been reported on campus as of last week.

The first reported case occurred in Iowa shortly after spring break, and the virus continues to spread throughout the Midwest.

Prahl new SA president; students vote down name change

Students recently elected a new SA president and voted down the possibility of a university name change.

United Student Voice candidate Samantha Prahl was elected to become the next SA president, narrowly defeating independent candidate Carlo Albano. Many Milwaukee Party candidates were disqualified for using illegal signature sheets and ran as write-in candidates.

Students also chose to remain the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, despite support for a change to Wisconsin State University.

Parking still a problem

The university will still have to deal with the continued parking and transit problems on and near campus.

Gov. Jim Doyle last month signed into law the Residential Preferred Parking bill, which eliminates over 700 parking spaces for students in the surrounding neighborhood if a university creates the same number of parking spots on campus. The spaces in the neighborhood would then be reserved for residents.

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