The fall semester’s round of Chancellor’s Roundtables started Thursday with little fanfare. Whether it was the sunny weather or the presence of Ralph Nader on campus, the attendance at the public meeting was lackluster.

Just Student Senate President Chad Wade and two members of the Mortar Board – the group that sponsors the roundtables – joined Chancellor Donald Mash and Vice Chancellor Andy Soll.

The discussions are designed to allow students to directly question the university’s leadership on issues important to them.

Thursday’s agenda included discussions of tuition increases and community relations.

Tuition increases

Mash reported the Board of Regents had recommended a 4-percent increase in tuition, while requesting state aid in providing increased financial aid for low-income students.

Mash outlined the importance of Wisconsin recognizing the relationship between tuition and state support.

“States typically have provided the majority (of funding) for public (universities), and as states have run into financial difficulties, and other priorities … public higher education has been getting a smaller and smaller share, and tuitions have gone up as that state support has gone down,” Mash said.

He acknowledged that the federal government has traditionally picked up the “lion’s share” of financial aid, and that the issue must now turn to whether or not the state also will step in to control the increasing financial burden on students and their families.

Soll addressed the issue of student loans, and the large debts accumulated by many students who take out loans. He said that the average UW-Eau Claire student who receives financial aid leaves school after four years with a loan debt of $14,000.

He also pointed out that some families needlessly take out loans. “There are students who absolutely need loans … we also know that sometimes it’s a family decision,” Soll said.

Mash called for increased financial support from the state.

“I would argue that there needs to be a fair sharing, and the state needs to participate,” he said. “It ought to be arrived at in terms of a public policy.”

Community relations

Mash informed the table of the university’s success in blocking the Third Ward’s attempt to institute a parking ban on city streets.

“We do not and will not agree that parking should be banned,” Mash said.

Soll, who served on a city committee to discuss parking issues this summer, said that the city is getting closer to arriving at a parking solution that will appease both students and residents of the Third Ward.

“We all agree that we have to bring some order to the parking situation,” Soll said.

The group spent considerable time discussing what Wade referred to as the “8,000-pound gorilla in the room,” the oft-proposed on-campus parking ramp.

While such a project has been proposed by city officials for many years, Mash, Soll and Wade all expressed doubts that such a project was the answer to parking problems.