News

Judiciary alters student council seats

The Student Judiciary held a meeting to discuss the reapportionment of the Student Council and decide on dates for the spring 2006 Associated Students of Madison election Monday.

Timothy Leonard, SEC Chair and Student Judiciary member, said ASM calls for the reapportionment regularly.

"The ASM Constitution says that council seats have to be reapportioned every four years," Leonard said.

The 33 council seats must be reapportioned under "reasonable academic units," which separately include representatives of most prominent university schools — such as, for example, the College of Letters and Science.

However, the academic units place freshmen in a separate unit, excluding them from their respective schools.

During the meeting, Student Judiciary members debated the classifications of the academic units as laid out by the ASM Constitution.

"There are 33 council seats and we have to apportion under 'reasonable academic units,'" Leonard said. "First, we have to define what a 'reasonable academic unit' is."

Leonard said presently the academic units are divided among the different schools in the undergraduate program and the professional programs.

"Right now, the way it's set up, you have all the different schools in the undergraduate programs, then you have all the professional programs," he said.

Leonard said two seats in the student council represent the five academic schools listed under the professional programs.

"[In] the professional program, there [are] two seats," he said. "The professional [program] includes the nursing program, the veterinary program, the medical school, the pharmacy school and the law school."

Student Judiciary members decided the representation of five schools by two student council seats would be a misrepresentation of the professional schools within the student council.

The deliberation, Leonard explained, pertained to the particular schools included in the professional programs and whether or not to divide them into smaller subgroups. Leonard said smaller and more specific subgroups could more effectively represent the professional programs in the student council.

"The debate was 'are we going to split those up or not?' Leonard said. "Right now, what we're going to do is come up with a proposal next week, divide it amongst strictly the schools and see what we get from there."

During the meeting, members also set the spring 2006 election dates for open seats within the ASM for March 28 to 30 of 2006 — two weeks after spring break.

Leonard said although the spring 2006 election dates can be changed, they will most likely proceed on the currently set dates.

"Yes, we just decided on it, we can change it, but [March 28-30] seems like it'll be it," Leonard said.