2008 Woodie Awards
Political tiffing damaging to students
Royal Purple staff
Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
If you want an example of how political debating directly affects the public, you needn't look further than the current argument going on about the Wisconsin state budget.
The State Assembly and State Senate have yet to agree upon a budget for the year, a fiscal year that officially began on July 1, and it's throwing the plans of many potential UW-Whitewater students into limbo.
They are "potential" students, because they haven't received their financial aid money yet; aid money in the form of grants, which are included in the state's non-existing budget.
The grants in question are through the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant program, and without them many of the students are unable to attend UW-Whitewater. Their future for the 2007-08 is currently up in the air, and classes started Tuesday.
One may wonder if these students, and the hundreds more like them in the rest of the UW system, are in the backs of these politicians' minds while they argue daily about the budget. If they aren't, they should.
This situation is in the control of a bunch of politicians popularly elected to the seats they sit in, and they still can't agree on a budget that the state and its people - the people that elected them - rely on.
Students aren't the only ones taking a hit; the universities in the UW system are as well. As far as UW-Whitewater goes, there are 178 people out there that aren't on campus enriching the university.
These people applied and were accepted to go here, but they can't because of the budget fiasco. And it's not just a matter of being or not being in the classroom. This situation can affect their entire lives.
When you prepare to go to school, you have to get a lot of things in line. Many people quit their summer jobs, arrange housing either on campus or off campus and commonly arrange work somewhere in or around the university.
However, because of the debating going on over the state budget these students have any one or more problems: a dorm room they can't pay for, an apartment lease they are bound to but can't afford, a job around campus they now have to commute to and no job back home to fall back on.
These 178 students and their families, as well as other students and alumni, should become proactive. We need to convince the politicians in the State Senate and State Assembly that their inability to agree on a budget is throwing a massive obstacle in the life paths of many potential students and their families.
Maybe then these politicians will actually sit down and put this issue to rest. Open their eyes to the repercussions of this problem, because chances are their children are comfortable sitting in class while hundreds of students wait at home for a thumbs up or thumbs down.
The State Assembly and State Senate have yet to agree upon a budget for the year, a fiscal year that officially began on July 1, and it's throwing the plans of many potential UW-Whitewater students into limbo.
They are "potential" students, because they haven't received their financial aid money yet; aid money in the form of grants, which are included in the state's non-existing budget.
The grants in question are through the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant program, and without them many of the students are unable to attend UW-Whitewater. Their future for the 2007-08 is currently up in the air, and classes started Tuesday.
One may wonder if these students, and the hundreds more like them in the rest of the UW system, are in the backs of these politicians' minds while they argue daily about the budget. If they aren't, they should.
This situation is in the control of a bunch of politicians popularly elected to the seats they sit in, and they still can't agree on a budget that the state and its people - the people that elected them - rely on.
Students aren't the only ones taking a hit; the universities in the UW system are as well. As far as UW-Whitewater goes, there are 178 people out there that aren't on campus enriching the university.
These people applied and were accepted to go here, but they can't because of the budget fiasco. And it's not just a matter of being or not being in the classroom. This situation can affect their entire lives.
When you prepare to go to school, you have to get a lot of things in line. Many people quit their summer jobs, arrange housing either on campus or off campus and commonly arrange work somewhere in or around the university.
However, because of the debating going on over the state budget these students have any one or more problems: a dorm room they can't pay for, an apartment lease they are bound to but can't afford, a job around campus they now have to commute to and no job back home to fall back on.
These 178 students and their families, as well as other students and alumni, should become proactive. We need to convince the politicians in the State Senate and State Assembly that their inability to agree on a budget is throwing a massive obstacle in the life paths of many potential students and their families.
Maybe then these politicians will actually sit down and put this issue to rest. Open their eyes to the repercussions of this problem, because chances are their children are comfortable sitting in class while hundreds of students wait at home for a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Rudy Valentine
posted 9/07/07 @ 9:14 AM EST
Hard to believe that a UW-Whitewater student publication could write a piece on the stalled budget and the damage being done to studentsd and faculty alike WITHOUT mentioning the key role local representative Steve Nass has had in this fiasco. (Continued…)
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