Nicole Robinson

When I was a pre-schooler, my mom went to school at UW-Eau Claire. Since she was a non-traditional student, sometimes finding a way to juggle classes and the responsibilities of parenting meant that I got to come to campus too. On days I was especially good, I got an ice cream cone from Davies Center.

As we made our way across the footbridge after one of these trips to get ice cream, a bird with particularly good aim pooped on me, splattering some on my treat. My mom took a rather somber 4-year-old Susan to get a new cone.

What’s funny is I can’t help but feel, 18 years later, that I’m getting pooped on again. And so are the more than 10,000 students of this university.

And yet again, Davies Center is a part of the story.

In October, Student Senate recommended by a vote of 20-5 that decisions about the future of Davies Center should ultimately be left up to Student Senate, the United Hall Council and the University Centers and Programs Advisory Committee.

By contrast, in 2003, the question of building a new student union was left up students in a referendum vote that saw the greatest voter turnout in recent years. In the 2003 referendum, students were asked to approve a new student center with the hefty price tag of $36.1 million. The student body said no.

The push to build a new center has never really gone away, and with good reason. Davies Center isn’t up to par. It doesn’t meet code. It doesn’t provide effective meeting space. However, we’re faced everyday with the current budget crisis in the UW System and the threat of rising tuition.

It’s the same in the real world. A family with a run-down minivan may really want to get a new one with reliable parts and perks like a DVD player for the kids. They can argue that they need reliable transportation. They can argue that the benefits of bonus features in a new vehicle would be beneficial. They can even argue that over time, they would spend less by simply purchasing a new van. But if the hypothetical family in question only has $500, chances are they’ll just fix what they can until more funds are available.

It’s idealistic to think the financial situation students are in is going to get any better. We’re all like that family who is strapped for cash.

Taking away student options of giving a direct thumbs up or thumbs down on the proposed project via a referendum and forcing through a plan makes our Senate, which was essentially elected by default, come off as little more than egotistical, power-hungry children with an open pocketbook. Furthermore, what seems to be getting pushed on us are images of Shangri-la -like student centers that are far more exorbitant than what students need and can likely afford.

One of the main arguments for taking the vote away from students is that they would be scared off by the sizable price tag that a new student center would present.

“A lot of people take a referendum blindly, I feel,” said Student Senate Vice President and Chairwoman of the Davies Exploratory Committee De Anna Breault in a Nov. 19 article in the Leader-Telegram.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

The same article reported the proposed new center would cost an estimated $48 million dollars. The plan calls for students to pay for this building over a number of years. The cost will go up per year to the point where in 2011 Eau Claire students will be paying an additional $306 per year to help fund a new center.

For some students, $306 is an awful lot of money. Adding fees like this to the already rising price of tuition is another way that students are getting priced out of an Eau Claire education. This move on Senate’s part to take direct student votes out of the equation on this major capital project sets a dangerous precedent that may cause students to pay even more money for projects we “need.”

At UW-Green Bay, students pay as much as $1,150 in student fees. And what does Green Bay “need?” Among other things, a $32 million fitness center and $6 million student union expansion that have yet to be built.

“I don’t need a new workout center. I can barely pay rent,” one Green Bay student said in a November Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

The article in the Journal Sentinel went on to report that since 1995, annual student fees have increased nearly 100 percent at almost every school in the UW System, with most of the increases being attributed to capital projects, such as student centers. And in most cases, the article reports, few students are involved in the review and approval process.

Last year, a group of students participated in a hunger strike in an attempt to keep tuition low. Where are the hunger strikers now? This “tuition” hike is real, and it’s happening now.

Another argument students have seen and heard is that our student center isn’t as nice as other schools’ student centers. So what?

Visitors to Davies are currently surrounded with Christmas-themed gigantic posters featuring super-posh images of other student unions that feature warm soft lighting, multi-story stone fireplaces and large bookstores. The “click to make your opinion stick” survey starts out with a series of photos of other student unions.

Are these from schools of comparable size with student bodies with comparable budgets? And who decided that they should be built? Students?

Furthermore, why do we need to have something that’s as fancy-schmancy as other schools? Those schools probably got their lavish unions through the same shady methods that Eau Claire will get one. What it seems to come down to is a competition between student governments for who has the greenest lawn. Here’s a thought – maybe students don’t care about student unions. But that’s their choice, and it should be respected.

Realistically, it’s hard to make college students care about the future of a student center, much less anything other than their own pet projects, beer prices and grades. But that’s the job of our student leadership. Convince us in spades that a new center is needed. Don’t rely on brief questionnaires that deceptively highlight fancy student centers before asking questions.

There are methods to make students care. Toss around the idea of spending $48 million more often. Give us the real scoop. I bet students would show up to discuss that kind of money. Heck, maybe Davies Center needs to fall down before we’ll do something. But it should be students’ right to let that happen.

I graduate in nine days. Senate’s not going to poop on me anymore.

But if I were the rest of you, I’d start shielding my ice cream cone.

MacLaughlin is a graduating senior print journalism major and editorial editor of The Spectator. Mac Mouths Off is a weekly column that has appeared every Thursday.