University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Thursday, September 29, 2022
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Interview UW Housing with +ed-board, Duckwrth +arts, page 7 page 5 ALICIA ZILCH/THE DAILY CARDINAL
COURTESY OF CE SOIR
UniverCity Year program finalist for national community engagement award By CLaire LaLiberte STAFF WRITER
LANCE LETELLIER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Multiple Madison offcampus apartments to raise prices By Charlie Hildebrand and Gavin Escott CITY EDITOR AND STAFF WRITER
With October around the corner, many University of Wisconsin-Madison students are evaluating whether to resign their leases, but with an added wrench thrown in — price increases. Several apartments told residents in recent weeks prices for the next leasing year will be higher, with inflation as a cause. The Roundhouse apartments informed some residents their rents would be higher in the next leasing term as “costs [are] dramatically rising for everything and everyone,” forcing them to raise rents. UW student Mallory Auth, whose four-bedroom apartment in the Roundhouse will increase by $255 per month, said the higher prices pushed her not to resign for next year. “[My roommates and I] were already on the fence about resigning for next year,” Auth said. “But once we got that letter in the [mail] saying the price would increase by $255, that really sealed the deal for us.” “It’s definitely not affordable,” Auth added. Another Roundhouse resident, Ciboney Reglos said management gave an option for
rent credits, but that was the extent of their efforts to mitigate impact on students. CHT Apartments, which operates the Roundhouse, declined to comment. Reglos, whose two bedroom apartment will increase by $150 a month, said many of her friends reported higher costs too. “I’ve talked to people in Park Place, the James, any of those downtown premium apartments, and this seems to be a really widespread thing,” she added. Some residents of The Hub, a flagship luxury apartment near campus, reported a 20% increase in their rent for the 2023-24 leasing term. The Hub’s management team cited inflation as a reason for the soar in rental prices. “Hub Madison understands and empathizes with the challenges residents are facing with rising rents throughout our area and around the country,” management said in a statement to the Daily Cardinal. “The terms of a lease are for the timeframe specified in a lease and once the lease ends, the new rental rates are determined by the market conditions. There are a variety of factors that determine rental rates including inflation and the costs of goods and services. Residents with questions or
concerns are encouraged to reach out to our office.” District 4 Alder Mike Verveer said he is disturbed by landlords increasing their rental prices. Verveer cites inflation as a reason for the soar in rental rates but believes the reported increases are unreasonable. “I do hope that landlords are not taking advantage of their tenants and future tenants by proposing outrageous increases a year from now,” Verveer said. “Double-digit rent increases proposed across the board for leases beginning in August 2023 … I think that is really outrageous.” Verveer wishes the city could do more to regulate rental rates but blames the state legislature for outlawing rent control in the 1970s. Auth acknowledged inflation was most likely the reason for the increased prices but she said that either way, the nature of Madison’s housing market advantaged landlords and allowed them to fix prices at the expense of students. “I think that college towns in general, [and college apartment buildings have] an advantage of being able to charge pretty much whatever price they want, because they know that students need to find housing,” Auth said.
The University of Wisconsin– Madison’s UniverCity Alliance organization was recognized last week for its exemplary work by the Association of Public and LandGrant Universities (APLU). UniverCity Year’s submission to the APLU was based on a case study of their work in Green County. The Green County initiative lasted from 2017 to 2020 and involved 288 UW– Madison students and 27 faculty members across nine schools. It included 50 projects across all sectors, combatting issues like the opioid crisis, food deserts, rural healthcare and more. The APLU named the program one of four regional winners of its W.K. Kellogg Community Engagement Awards, deeming it the most impactful organization across the land-grant universities in the North Central region’s twelve states. The UniverCity Alliance will compete against the Universities of Georgia, Vermont and Texas at Austin for the C. Peter Macgrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award. The recipient will also be awarded a statue and $20,000 to further their mission of community development. The other three universities will receive $5,000. In 2015, the award was given to the organization’s flagship program UniverCity Year which began with a sustainability partnership with the city of Monona. Since then, over 1,500 students have engaged with 20 communities across the state of Wisconsin, completing over 200 projects that address issues like child care in La Crosse, tourism infrastructure in Egg Harbor and environmental preservation for Koshkonong Creek. Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said UniverCity Year “embodies the
Wisconsin Idea,” which states the effects and benefits of education should extend far beyond the university campus. UniverCity Year allows students to directly apply their skills and knowledge in communities across the state, benefiting Wisconsinites and Badgers alike. UniverCity Alliance also provides students with the opportunity to do field research in a number of disciplines, from sociology and economics to environmental sciences, while working on these projects. This allows students to advance their education in the field in order to better understand and serve their communities in the future. Gavin Luter is the managing director of UniverCity Alliance and holds a Ph.D. in educational administration. He said UniverCity Year “pulls students into the Wisconsin Idea by helping them apply their course content to projects relevant to Wisconsin communities,” and allows them to make the world a better place through the application of their own ideas and skills. Luter expressed that the award gave validation that the department’s strategic model was working. Since the program was experimental, the award also demonstrated that “the impacts we’re seeing in the communities we work with are legitimately exciting, even from afar.” UniverCity Alliance sponsors a number of other programs outside of UniverCity Year, including resources for community improvement and trainings that encourage civic engagement. Luter encouraged those interested to attend their next training, focused on explaining cities and municipal government, at Memorial Union at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 12.
BRYCE RICHTER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”