What's really going on?

Given my limited time to deal with this blog, I am looking for others who have the information that the UWM campus needs to understand the truth. So if you see other people here, you'll know why.

So many targets, so little time...

Well, there are many things that need to be mentioned, but I don't have enough time to give them the full attention they deserve. So like the current (drive-by) media, I will simply mention each of them and get to more details when I can...

1) SB 329 has now passed the Senate. In case you haven't been paying attention, this bill of attainder against UWM allows the City of Milwaukee to set aside one parking space near campus for residents only for every parking space we build on campus. So why should we build more parking now?

2) The Student Association right now is in need of effective leadership. The petition to remove Alderman D'Amato seems to be going nowhere. The events board in front of Union 363 (home office for SA until June 1) is both poorly done and of questionable accuracy. The Student Court, which is supposed to be the co-equal third branch of student government, is in limbo because they can't keep three justices in place.

3) The smoking ban has been sent to the Union Policy Board, where they were asked to get air quality samples to see if there is really any problem with the 8th Note maintaining smoking. My guess is that the UPB will ignore the request, but stranger things have been known to occur

4) There is still no election procedure in place. Given that the election is supposed to happen soon, the fact that no nomination papers are out is scary.

I'll get back to more later.

Beginning to Recall...

The following e-mail has been distributed to UWM students:

UWM students are considering the recall of Alderman Michael D'Amato and we need your help! This is an effort headed by officials of the UWM Student Association to protect students, our rights and our pocketbooks.

Alderman D’Amato is responsible for Friday morning street sweeping – which in 2003 alone resulted in over 13,000 cars being towed – costing over $1.5 million in tickets and tow fees!

Have you ever received a parking ticket? You’re not alone! Last year over 248,000 parking tickets were issued around the UWM campus – totaling almost $5 million in fines! The Alderman is the only one that can change this – Ald. D’Amato refuses!

Even worse, he wants to rezone the UWM neighborhood to prohibit students from living within 400 feet of each other.

Bottom line – the students need an Alderman that supports students.

We need students like YOU!

If you are interested in a possible recall, please attend an organizing session at one of the following times:
1) Sunday, February 19, 2006 at 6:00 or 7:00 PM
Location: UWM Union Ballroom
2) Monday, February 20, 2006 at 4:00 or 5:00 PM
Location: UWM Union Room 191

Please email us for more information!

Thank you!

Alex Walters
UWM Student Association
2200 East Kenwood Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
Ph: 414-229-4366
uwmstudents@gmail.com

Heads up

Flyers have started appearing on campus recruiting people to recall Alderman Mike D'Amato. It appears as though the Student Association may be planning to spearhead a recall effort. This would be one of the more ambitious effort to date. These flyers ask people to email annya@uwm.edu to volunteer.

Raises Concern...

What planet do the UW Regents live on in order to raise the salary of the UW-Madison Chancellor by $56,000? If they want to improve the climate in the system, they can take half of that and pay me as an advisor to cut fraud and waste. Good luck getting that proposal through...

Cameras in the Union

Whose bright idea was is to put cameras in the Union, and how much are we paying for them? Also, looking into the recesses where the cameras are held, they are either very small (and hidden in the back of the recesses) or are not installed yet. Either way, there is cause for concern.

What Were They Thinking?

When the Student Association held an event to make students more aware of the organizations on campus, they offered pizza to those who showed up. This, however, lasted about a half hour, and the event quickly fizzled after that. Apparently, the SA didn't think there would be all that many people showing up, so they didn't plan for much food.

Here's the question I have: What kind of organization plans an event that they expect will fail? That's a guarantee for failure, and shows the silliness of the attempt.

Where is the Outrage?

In April of 2005, a letter was sent out by several prominent multicultural groups on campus demanding that the person who sent out a derogatory and incendiary e-mail be punished to the full extent of the law and University policy. Now here it is nine months later, and the no actual punishments have been handed out.

Where is the outrage? Is the fact that a name was attached to the events sufficient, or has everyone simply forgotten about it? I haven't forgotten...

Being Jerked Around by the Soda Contract

Does anyone else think it's strange that when the University renegotiated the soda contract they mandated that the prices go up? Or that the only substantive difference between the proposals was that Pepsi offered 56% of the profit margin, as opposed to the contractual minimum of 55.5% that Coke offered? Where does this money go, and what is being done with it? Anyone with information is welcome to share...

Signs of the Times

The board near the Campus Activities Board office, which once had the "Destroy the UWM Times" statement from indymedia.org now has the UWM Leader posted on it so that the editorial about the Times ("UWM Times must acknowledge its agenda") is the only thing visible. Apparently, the same person or persons who had a problem with the Times couldn't stop trying to undermine them.

If you don't like something, don't patronize it. It has been my experience that those who take such extreme steps to destroy something only make it stronger, but time will tell.

Remodeling

Has anyone noticed just how much remodeling of buildings goes on at UWM? Over Winterim, we have the remodeling of a staircase in the Union that over half the people who use the Union don't even know exists, as well as yet another remodeling of the EMS building. It's time an investigation took place as to how much of our tuition money is being spent on these projects...

This is me doing what comes naturally. 

Disguising the problem...

When The Leader reported the latest Senate Finance Committee figures, they did so in the usual format: cost per student. To figure out the actual fifure, multiply the figures by the 28,000+ students that pay it. That's how they get the $18,000,000 figure.

Think about it. There's 18 million dollars that we pay that aren't going to tuition, but other things. Where is all this going? A full account of this money is in order.

Free Speech Applies to Everyone -- Especially the ones you hate!

The idea behind free speech is that everyone has the right to publish what they want, and that if you don't agree with it, don't read it. But someone who posts on indymedia.org disagrees with this.

Regardless of one's personal ideology, the idea of actively advocating the suppression of unpopular ideas should bring universal condemnation.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Reason Not to Attend Marquette, Volume 1

If you think that having students being ignored is a problem at UWM, take a look at this report about a Marquette student who should have been ignored but wasn't. Just giving a few comments about a random professor and a quarter of the students with whom he has classes with is cause for having to repeat an entire semester? Give me a break!

Let them try and come after this site, and we'll see just how many well armed sheep there are...

Stupid Quote of the Week

This week's winner is professor Arthur Brooks, who is quoted in the UWM Post as saying, "As a scientist I cannot understand why anyone continues to smoke given the overwhelming evidence that clearly shows smoking to be harmful to one's health." In our continuing role as advocates for the obvious, let me explain.

It is common knowledge that smoking is an addiction. If someone is addicted, they focus on doing the addictive behavior, to the exclusion of factors that would encourage them to stop, such as reasoned arguments about how detrimental it is. I have run into people who can cite every health risk associated with smoking but still do it because they don't have the willpower to stop (by their own admission, no less). Stopping something based on knowledge of its drawbacks is a rational response. Addiction, by definition, is not rational. People cannot be reasoned out of something they didn't reason themselves into.

If smoking can be solved by education, it is not an addiction. But we know that it is an addiction, so as a logician I cannot understand why anyone continues to promote educating the public about the dangers of smoking given the overwhelming evidence that clearly shows educating someone to overcome smoking to be useless.

Senate Bill 329 Update

It has come to our attention that this bill, whose sole purpose for existing is to maintain the parking squeeze on our campus, has made it out of committee and thus has the potential to come before the Wisconsin State Senate. Without a strong push from students, it is likely to pass, simply because no senator is going to vote against having the local area impose restrictions on itself.

What they fail to realize is that if SB 329 passes, anyone who actually lives near campus can start leasing out parking spaces in the reserved areas to their "guests". If you read the text of the bill (found at ), the reserved spaces can be used by "persons whose residences are adjacent to [UWM, and] guests of such persons". So if you happen to live near campus, what stops you from having some person who pays you $200 per month to be your "guest"?

My sister thinks I'm crazy for wanting to move next to campus. Bills like this make me look more and more sane every day...

The Power of Suggestion....

At one time, there were actual suggestion boxes in the Union. These were locked boxes with comment cards near them where people could ask questions and offer suggestions on how to improve the Union. Each floor had one, and if you know where to look, the holes drilled into the pillars and wall are still visible. (You can e-mail me if you want me to point them all out.) Along with these, there were display boards that took questions posed and offered responses from the Union Policy Board and other staff members who could act on the suggestions made.

Instead of these, there are now "electronic comment cards" that you can go to any of the kiosk computers and use from the main menu. The idea is that you can do the same sort of commentary but without all the bulky boxes cluttering up the Union.

The problem with this lies in human nature. If you don't use the kiosks for your computer needs, you probably will never see the option for a comment. Even if you do use a kiosk, are you going to remember to file your comment when you're there? With a suggestion box in place, it offers a constant reminder. Eventually you'll remember to put your response in.

This is still no guarantee that anyone will listen. In 1999, I put a suggestion in one of these boxes. In 2000, the comment card was still in the bottom of the box and the response board hadn't been updated, so I put another one into the same box, suggesting that they pay more attention to the boxes. The two of them sat for another year before the box was removed. (The response board was still in place and hadn't been updated since my first comment was placed in 1999.) When I ran for Student Senate in 2003, I mentioned my story during a party organizing event, which prompted the removal of most of the rest of the suggestion boxes and the display boards for responses. The last one (near the 8th Note) was removed in 2004. Am I the only one that finds this suspicious?

Interim Promotions -- A Start

The UWM home page (http://www.uwm.edu) today officially recognized James Hill as the Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Tom McGinnity as the Interim Dean of Students. This is a good sign, but we can't assume that this guarantees that our voices will be heard. It is still possible for the Chancellor to phase out the department from this position, so we still need to be alert -- and armed.

"Allowable Increase" misses the point.

Our fine campus newspapers have pointed out that the Senate Finance Committee has graciously chosen to raise Segregated Fee money (that is, money that we pay along with our tuition that goes for student organization and activity expenses) in an amount less than what is the allowable maximum. While this demonstrates amazing restraint on the part of the SFC, it represents an endemic problem on this campus.

The problem is that the people who get to choose how much of our money they take from us seem to believe that since a certain increase is allowable, it is therefore "gracious" of them if they don't stick us with the maximum hit. Most of the extra money was sucked up by the U-Pass increase, but even so, aren't we taking enough of a hit from tuition increases? It shouldn't be too big of a leap of logic to conclude that maybe keeping the student portion down is a good idea, but what do I know?