Letter to the editor

Better UW Initiative: 26 campuses for one cause

In recent weeks, student representatives have joined together to create an organization called the "Better UW Initiative."

The UW System student representatives consists of 26 students, one from every school in the state. The goal of the this initiative is to voice concern over the magnitude of the budget cuts, support a fixed tuition increase cap, and to save shared governance for each separate school. Our core values are listed in six different statements.

One of these statements, which reads “through these challenges and changes we will strengthen the UW student voice while maintaining professionalism and integrity,” is critical to the success of this undertaking. By uniting as a 26-school, system-wide student body, our voices will be heard all the way up to the capitol.

The proposed budget cuts will inevitably affect all of us, but no one can yet say exactly how the cuts will impact their education. This is why the Better UW Initiative was created: to establish a resource for students to educate themselves on how the budget cuts and the end of a tuition cap will inevitably affect our campus.

With the information provided from forums, events, and honest media coverage the Better UW Initiative is organizing, students will be able to develop their own opinion on what’s expected to come. It's critical for the student body to understand how the budget cuts and an end to a tuition freeze will impact the cost of school and the integrity of the education.

Comparable cuts were made to the University of California system in 2012, which ended a tuition freeze, resulting the average cost of education going up by roughly 25 percent. The impact of a 16.4 percent decrease in funding is incomprehensible now, but as more information is revealed, the Better UW Initiative will be a platform for a student to go to learn more about what is to come.

It's imperative that the Better UW Initiative establishes a system-wide student coalition in response to current, as well as future, critical issues that will affect the whole system. The Better UW Initiative will be hosting biweekly forums, starting this week, on what students can expect from the looming cuts.

Visit http://www.uwreps.com/better-uw.html to learn more, and like the Better UW Initiative Facebook page to keep up-to-date on events and information.

Daniel Saunders
UW-River Falls student
Better UW Initiative representative