Mainstream, not extreme
SUFC will continue to represent the students
By AJ Piwarun
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If re-elected next week, SUFC pledges to further our initiatives on fiscal responsibility, campus safety, parking, the environment, and ethics and transparency in government.
Students of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:
2008-2009 Student Association elections are set to take place this Thursday and Friday. With the cost of tuition and fees at an all-time high, this election couldn’t be more important.
Students United for Change (SUFC), the incumbent political party that has fought hard for student rights, is running for re-election. So far this year, we have accomplished many great things. We lowered the cost of segregated fees by looking over budgets and eliminating wasteful spending – even by cutting unnecessary jobs in our own student government.
We implemented many safety initiatives, including extending BOSS hours and pushing the administration for a viable SAFE alert system.
On the off-campus housing front, we created the COAST program, which helps bridge the gap between our friendly neighbors and students. In terms of doing our part to save the environment, we successfully lobbied the administration to fund the Campus Climate Challenge.
In regards to parking, we successfully blocked a $1-per-use UPARK fee, and created an additional lot at the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower. Additionally, we fought to get back parking citation appeals, which will be initiated next fall.
These accomplishments are notable, but we aren’t done yet.
If re-elected next week, SUFC pledges to further our initiatives on fiscal responsibility, campus safety, parking, the environment, and ethics and transparency in government.
Our plans include further reducing segregated-fee spending. As fellow college students, we understand the financial burden associated with attending a higher institution of learning. We realize your hard earned dollars should stay in your pocket, so we will fight our hardest to reduce dependence on segregated fees.
In terms of campus safety, we want to greatly increase the number of safety patrols on campus. When safety is a concern, BOSS should always be the number one option. We pledge to work closely with the BOSS administration to make sure these needs get fulfilled.
Parking on campus is a headache, but we have plans to ease the restrictions. By working with the administration this year, we successfully fought the usage fee, and next year we will do the same. We will work with the newly elected alderman and seek parking options that will move beyond the regressive Residential Preferred Parking program.
To do our part to save the environment, we will roll out a progressive program aimed at increasing recycling on campus. With our enrollment in the Campus Climate Challenge, we have a mandate to increase the number of recycling bins on campus, implement automatic lighting systems and have an on-campus environmental representative to help with our initiatives.
We believe these plans will move UWM forward and hope you feel the same. The elections will be held this Thursday and Friday, and the SUFC party is looking forward to your support.
Vote mainstream, not extreme.
> Comments
Nathan Johnson on Apr 14, 2008 at 07:59 AM:
As for your title, to quote Martin Luther King Jr. "The question is not whether or not we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be."
Pissed off UWM Student on Apr 14, 2008 at 10:02 AM:
Exactly how is SUFC Mainstream???
Is cutting student resources and stealing money now mainstream?
What else? on Apr 14, 2008 at 11:42 AM:
They also said that if women on campus are raped, they can look to the Yellow Pages to seek help since their cuts to the Women's Resource Center were projected to cut counseling to rape victims. That's Joe Ohler (SUFC) for you.
Johanan Raatz on Apr 14, 2008 at 12:56 PM:
"Is cutting student resources and stealing money now mainstream?"
SUFC cut spending and saved us money so you can't complain about them stealing. And if your reffering to the resource centers then to be fair we should have a straight and men's resource centers as well. However, as it stands there is nothing extreme about maintaining neutrality on resource centers and cutting them no matter what perspective they come from.
Chris Walker on Apr 14, 2008 at 03:25 PM:
The complaint is a legitimate one to make. Perhaps the wording ("stealing") isn't the most appropriate to use, but the SA, under SUFC leadership, wants to cut funding to resource centers while also taking a trip to NYC, using SA funds to do so (which is provided by students).
How a student group uses money is their own business, in most cases. The SA, however, is funded by every student's tuition. Whenever the SA uses that money for personal reasons, it serves the public well to scrutinize every penny spent.
Now, a trip to NYC isn't that bad; it may, as the SA has argued, serve them well to learn more from other student governments. But how that money was spent was questionable - indeed, a member of that trip wasn't even an elected or appointed member of SA.
Again, I think it's a legitimate argument to make.
Jacob Flom on Apr 15, 2008 at 10:01 AM:
"SUFC pledges to further our initiatives on ... transparency in government."
I remember when the Post quoted a certain SUFC member calling the transparency act "pointless".
AJ Piwarun on Apr 15, 2008 at 02:12 PM:
Jacob Flom, If you decided to come to the meeting, you would have noticed that the quote was, of course, taken out of context by the deliberately biased Post. The transparency bill in question was "pointless" BECAUSE it's wording was the exact same as found in the Senate Bylaws, which already required us to do the prescribed measures.
yep on Apr 16, 2008 at 04:53 PM:
AJ, to bad you can't discuss the issues you might get some votes that way. The only way you can get votes is by bashing other students and getting ASAP kicked off the ballot. Your a class act AJ
Mainstream like Richard Nixon mainstream? on Apr 18, 2008 at 12:14 AM:
AJ, By the time this is over, some of your party members may end up in jail, or, if not, damn close to it. It appears that some of them have mistaken violations of Wisconsin state law for priveleges of their position.
I hope for your sake that you are not one of them.
Snarling Velociraptor on Apr 18, 2008 at 09:09 AM:
Nixon rocked!!
Amathai on Apr 18, 2008 at 03:53 PM:
I would like to make everyone aware that we are in the beginning stages of organizing a protest of the current SA regime over their handling of the student election. Please contact me on facebook (Amathai Lennox) to learn more. This protest will be peaceful in nature, just to make that clear. And in case the SA has any funny ideas about stopping this like they did the right of freedom of the press, let me remind you of freedom of assembly.
AJ's memory on Apr 19, 2008 at 01:19 AM:
Repeatedly, all year: "Stop complaining, come fill out an application and run for SA..."
UPDATE: "I mean TRY to run for SA. HA HA HA HA."
Amaithi Lennox on Apr 19, 2008 at 10:30 AM:
This is idiotic Mr. Raatz. A men's resource center? For what? Steroid abuse? That's simple, don't take them. I do not know what the rate of rape is for men on this campus, but I doubt that it is high enough to justify such a move. And as for these idiotic comments about SA, no, the SA in its current incarnation is a bunch of crooks, and what's worse, you get upset and offended when someone actually busts them out for it. There was no line for the LGBT Center on the ballot yesterday, and I had to ask seven different people, ALL SA members, to tell me what the code was. Guess what? None of them knew. Add to that the SA's blatant disregard for real student concerns that conflict with student-paid trips for the flawed SA, and you have a student government run wild. There is no justification for the behavior of the SA over the past two years, it is a corrupt government and I am hoping to god that this party is tossed out on its butts when the election results come in. Oh, wait... SUFC was running against itself. Nevermind.