As members of the Board of Regents walked from their committee meetings in Gerberding Hall to their meeting as a whole in Kane Hall Friday, they stepped over chalk outlines of classified workers' bodies drawn on the bricks of Red Square.

In front of Kane, members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) paraded before 10 assembled chairs with cardboard signs hanging around their necks, portraying everyone from incoming UW President Mark Emmert to food-service workers in a skit titled "Race to the Bottom."

The goal, said SLAP member Devin Kelly, was to raise student awareness of the plight facing UW classified staff, particularly members of Service Employees International Union Local 925, who are in the midst of negotiating a new contract with the Board of Regents.

"'Race to the Bottom' is used by a lot of activists to display how economic disparity creates social problems," said Kelly. "Workers -- specifically classified workers and professional staff -- get hurt the most by the present system, and the administration benefits by far the most."

While the regents and guests lunched inside Kane Hall's Walker-Ames Room before the meeting, SLAP members took their starting positions behind a chalk line in their simulated race for a $1,000 prize. An announcer introduced each competitor in the race, describing their situation and how badly they needed the money.

When Emmert and the football coach, dubbed "Nick Nike" were introduced, the announcer quipped, "What's a thousand dollars to them?"

"Chump change," called out Kelly, who played the role of Nike.

While Emmert and Nike cruised ahead of the race, classified workers and professional staff members were slowed by concerns about taking on more work due to cuts in funding or having to work more than one job in order to make ends meet.

In the end, Emmert won the race, while classified workers collapsed from exhaustion.

"The classified-staff workers have not received a raise for any cost of living in the last three years," said Kelly. "UW is generating all this positive income, but [funding] is being cut in areas that need it most -- student advisers, lab technicians and people that really provide educational training."

According to Michael Lassiter, president of the local union, the UW has claimed the state has not been providing it with enough money to give classified staff a cost-of-living raise. However, only about 15 percent of the UW's revenue is generated from state funding, said Lassiter. The rest comes from outside sources.

"One of our concerns is that coming July 1, [the Board of Regents is] intending to give a 2 percent raise to everyone here, but not the classified staff," he said. "They did that last year too."

As the regents' meeting commenced, SLAP members wrapped up their discussion by handing out colorful plastic whistles. They proceeded to "blow the whistle" on tuition increases, expensive health-care costs and the salary of the administration.

Patrick Switzer, a union member who assisted at the demonstration by handing out literature to students, has worked at the UW for 23 years as a data-entry operator in the Health Sciences Center for Educational Resources. As of June 1, he is out of a job, having been pink-slipped due to budgetary problems in his department.

"Things have been bad for a long time," he said of his department's need for funding. "I would love to be a fly on the wall when [the Board of Regents] decide how to handle this," he added.