H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°Segregated fees for University of Wisconsin students currently stand at a bloated $445 per semester. Starting next fall, they’ll go up another $48, thanks to the Wisconsin Union Initiative. And if the UW Recreational Sports Board has its way, you could soon add another $60 on top of that.
The board presented a plan to the Faculty Senate Monday to build a 140,200 square-foot, $60 million addition to the Natatorium facility. The addition would include an indoor artificial turf field, a large fitness center and a four-lane walking-jogging track, and it would be funded through — you guessed it — seg fees.
The improvements are needed, the board says, because of a developing recreational gap between UW and the rest of the Big Ten, with the other schools increasingly boasting workout facilities superior to our own. Since we haven’t performed any pull-ups at Purdue or run any miles at Michigan, we’ll take them at their word on this.
Even so, charging students $60 per semester to give the Nat a facelift is completely untenable. Students’ pocketbooks are simply stretched too thin, and a college education at UW is too expensive to spend $60 million on a project that, while nice, is hardly needed. The Nat is outdated but still usable. Some students would surely enjoy a state-of-the-art Nat; many more would find its price tag prohibitively expensive. Any competitive advantage UW gained from a new Nat would be more than undermined by the increased strain on students’ budgets.
Worse, many students would receive nothing for their investment, because they would graduate before the new addition is completed.
We argued vociferously — though unsuccessfully — against the Union Initiative two years ago. One of our chief concerns with the new Union South project was a fear that, no matter how splendid the new design may be, students still won’t frequent it. This could be because of location, history or the simple lack of significant demand for a second union building on campus.
The Nat seems to rest in a similar position. Housing patterns are such that the Southeast Recreational Facility will always be the campus’s No. 1 destination for indoor sports and exercise. The Nat targets a more limited population residing on the west end of campus and Eagle Heights. That’s not to say it’s not an important facility, or that other students never use it. But it is a word of caution before socking too much money into a building that is likely always destined to play second fiddle to the SERF.
Perhaps if the Union Initiative had not passed, there would be room for a modest allocation of seg fees to revamp the Nat. But the Union Initiative did pass, and the Recreational Sports Board plan is anything but modest. Their $60 million seg fee boondoggle must fail.
IP hash: c37a0d00
What the Nat is definitely in need of is a new pool. While you all may think that this is an unnecessary waste of money, I guess you haven’t done any research into our pool facilities. We have a great swim team…but it could be better. One of the biggest problems recruiting even better swimmers is our terrible facility that is swarming with mice and cockroaches. The racing pool is neither wide enough or deep enough to be considered “fast” and the spectator area is far too small for Big 10 audiences. Few meets are held at the Nat already and as regulations become stricter for depth required to use starting blocks, the Nat may soon become unusable for competition as it is only 4.5 feet on each end. The SERF pool was built well, but without a diving area and no spectator seating so it can only be used for practice. So your statement that the “Nat is outdated but still usable” may not hold true in the coming years. There is also talk that there was an agreement between head coach Eric Hansen and UW that if a new pool was not being built by 2010, that he would only stay on the condition that we would have a disgustingly high increase in salary. So UW could pay for a higher salary to keep an amazing coach but lose its competitiveness as a swim team, or we could invest in a facility that doesn’t have cockroaches crawling everywhere and that can actually attract the best recruits and provide a place for recreation and competitive sports.
IP hash: 8038aa09
Fuck your precious sports. Spend $60 million on things that matter.
IP hash: fcac798e
If the UW Swim team is using the Nat and SERF as practice and meet facilities, shouldn’t the UW Athletics Department fund this expansion. For student run groups they must show that they provide for a wide range of students, and I’m sorry but the Nat swimming pool does not attract many users. I agree that the Nat needs updating, but for $60 million (athletics could fund anything needed for the pool) shouldn’t we be able to build a brand new building that has everything we need instead of continuing to use a building that doesn’t completely suit our needs.
IP hash: 61e4abac
The athletic department should pay for a new pool, not the entire student body.
IP hash: da40f0e4
Why can’t these idiots do what other schools do and conduct capital campaigns to raise the money, rather than rigging votes to steal money from our pockets?
IP hash: 5ba366d8
As an alumnus of UW, one would have to be extremely ignorant and stupid to believe that the increases in segregated fees are in response to athletics. The school wouldn’t have 3/4 of what it has without the revenue that football, for example, brings in. The increases are due to the numerous crazy, left wing clubs/organizations that exist on the campus. Students shouldn’t be giving their, or their parent’s, hard-earned money so that gays and cross-dressers can have their own organization, for example. UW is no different than the United States Government; costs and taxes will never come to a halt or decrease until unnecessary/ridiculous spending stops.
IP hash: 735a151e
I feel the pain of this one! I was a student at a UW school who made plans to build a new sports center and paid for much of it with seg fees. The biggest thing that irks me is I am now employeed by that school, and while current students have free access to the sports center I helped pay for, as a staff member I would have to fork over a monthly fee to use it!
IP hash: 0765aa16
unless it’s a sport that makes money for the university, it doesn’t deserve my seg fee money. seriously, who’s ever been to a swim team meet?
IP hash: e5b693a6
things that matter….like something that isn’t going to fall apart in 5 years, something that will be used by students and faculty for the next thirty years, and an investment in something that will bring in revenue from competitions held there, and something that will give students much needed jobs after the existing Nat falls apart and leaves them unemployed….hmmm maybe you should keep your profanity to yourself if you don’t actually have anything meaningful to say.
IP hash: 62d6e980
I’m a UW Madison alumnus, but I fought so hard to stop that STUPID Union initiative. I CANNOT believe that more people didn’t resist that election fraud BS. The students voted against it very strongly in the election, but because a few votes got lost by the electronic voting system, they had a re-vote. The lost votes wouldn’t have mattered because the Union initiative failed by many more votes than the number lost. But, somehow some very charismatic people convinced ASM to have a re-vote. Hardly anyone participated in the re-vote except the die-hard Student Union people, so the initiative passed. If any new students are upset about the gigantic seg fees, I hope they realize that we tried to stop it, but election corruption got in the way.
IP hash: acf0fb98
4:06-
The homophobia is not cool, asshole.
IP hash: b67cf683
Correct me if I’m wrong, but we do eventually get a kick ass facility at the Nat, right? That amounts to stealing because…?
Just because you won’t use it doesn’t mean others won’t. If that extra $108 is really killing you (which I’m willing to bet it isn’t given the amount of money everyone willfully spends on alcohol at UW) get a job and deal with it.
IP hash: ba2ac49f
spend the fucking money on academics. we’re the university of wisconsin, not a fancy fucking pants fitness club.
IP hash: da40f0e4
“If that extra $108 is really killing you (which I’m willing to bet it isn’t given the amount of money everyone willfully spends on alcohol at UW) get a job and deal with it.”
I’m already working three jobs, you idiot. Unlike some people, I don’t have a wealthy mommy and daddy to pay all my bills for me.
IP hash: b38b339e
10:30am,
Boohoo…
IP hash: b67cf683
10:30
You presume that I care.
Looks like you’re just going to have to make more money or drop out. Tough luck. I’ll be working on my cardio at the new track.
IP hash: 19619946
Definitely something the athletic department should be paying for. My guess is that they are not hurting for money, unlike many of the students that attend the UW.
IP hash: 19619946
5:33
You’re not from Wisconsin, are you? We are taught to be better people than you. Your parents failed you. Sorry.