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ASM learns how to express, be heard
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by Traci Almer
Monday, February 18, 2002
Hosted by the United States Student Association and the Associated Students of Madison, students gathered last weekend at Memorial Union for a Grassroots Organizing weekend.
The weekend was designed to educate students in organizational skills that will help them succeed in facing higher authorities when trying to improve legislation.
Carl Camacho, vice chair of ASM, directed the weekend with two representatives of the USSA, Kerianne Ludwig from the University of Pittsburgh and Portia Pedro from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Pedro said the weekend was an opportunity for students to help one another.
“Student organizations are always fighting with each other instead of working together,” he said.
ASM sought to bring greater cohesiveness to relationships between student organizations as well as provide instruction in how these organizations can more effectively work with government or administrative agencies.
“This weekend was designed to train and focus students on organizing around all student issues — to make students’ voices be heard,” Camacho said.
However, everyone in attendance had slightly different goals for the weekend.
“What I want to get out of this weekend is to learn how to organize with people who don’t have the same organizational skills as I do,” said Faith Kurtyka, a UW sophomore and secretary of ASM.
One of the exercises of the weekend included “Understanding the Relations of Power,” an activity designed to enhance participants understanding of how authority figures relate to patrons and constituents.
“This exercise is shaped to teach you what constitutes power, who has it, and how to get it,” Pedro said. “Power is what we have to get someone else to give us what we want.”
