“No budget would have been terrible, but this budget looks to be the first installment of a real recession,” said Santiago.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago discussed the state budget and its effect on UWM, campus safety, and parking among other issues at the biannual “Ask the Chancellor” program, produced by the Broadcast Club.

Around 60 students gathered in Cunningham Hall to question the chancellor Friday, with focus quickly shifting to the state budget and what it means for UWM. Santiago recently spent a lot of time in Madison working on the budget, and indicated that he was very pleased with the final outcome.

“No budget would have been terrible, but this budget looks to be the first installment of a real recession,” said Santiago.

An element of the budget Santiago dealt with extensively was the continued progression of the school of public health and engineering. Santiago focused on how the school is moving forward, with $10 million secured for the facility, initial investment for specialists in public health, and a sense of location in downtown Milwaukee close to the Aurora Health Center.

“Everything seems to be coming together,” said Santiago.

Santiago was adamant that Milwaukee is in dire need of a school of public health, pushing for the facility in spite of the fact there are 100 public health researchers at the University of Wisconsin.

“Milwaukee has a real serious public health problem. We need to have public health for Milwaukee that’s trained in Milwaukee and focuses on Milwaukee’s needs,” Santiago said.

Another issue brought up is how neighbors are unhappy with the expansion of the campus. Santiago voiced clearly that the problem doesn’t lie in enrollment, but the lack of space, especially the lack of housing space.

“We have 29,000 students and the fewest number of beds then any institution in the UW-System,” Santiago said.

The chancellor stressed that the issue will persist until we can build more beds and provide the space for students, with UWM is becoming a predominantly residential campus.

With the shift of UWM becoming more a residential than commuter campus, one student brought up the ongoing issue of parking on campus, with many students being frustrated with the regulations.

Santiago voiced that he is well aware of the parking issue and that it is an issue all campuses face.

“Ours is particularly bad, we don’t have the space we need, it’s not structured in such a way that is welcoming to people to stay on campus,” said Santiago.

Although this is an ongoing problem, Santiago talked about some efforts they are making, such as $2 million worth of master planning money. In the plan, there is a transit and transportation parking initiative to restructure the entire system.

“We have to look at these issues in a comprehensive way and to quit putting band-aids on the issues, as a solution I can’t tell you that we are all that close,” Santiago said.

Santiago also spoke on the crime situation on campus and what students can do to be safer. He stated that our campus is very safe, but the crime rate has gone up in our off-campus community where more then 12,000 students live.

He cited the safety awareness program, providing information of any incidents via email, and for the first time, reporting the outcome of investigations as ways of addressing the issue.

“We are providing more information of safety and in the process of hiring more public safety officers,” said Santiago.

Students will have another opportunity to “Ask the Chancellor” next semester.

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