NEWS
ASM weighs in on Halloween
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Also by Joanna Pliner:
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by Joanna Pliner
Monday, September 4, 2006
The Associated Students of Madison Student Council kicked off its 13th session Thursday with discussions on the proposed state constitutional ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions and this fall's Halloween celebration.
In light of Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's plan to charge for admission to State Street Oct. 28, ASM discussed a Halloween proposal with which they hope to secure free admission and advanced ticket distribution for University of Wisconsin students.
Student Council member Zach Frey said ASM does not support admission charges, but added that if Cieslewicz is going to implement such a policy, the students should try to make it as "student accessible" as possible.
Frey said instead of students getting upset at the mayor because they feel like they are being "caged up," they should be as cooperative as possible to make it easier to find "coalition partners" in an effort to modify his plan.
Referring to the free live entertainment planned for State Street, Frey said students should "look at the positive — [the mayor is] offering students really cool entertainment."
While the issue of Halloween pressed heavily on students, Student Council members also poised themselves for civil-union issues.
In November, Wisconsin voters will decide whether gay marriage and civil unions will be constitutionally acceptable within their state's borders.
Some Student Council representatives suggested ASM officially oppose the constitutional amendment in Wisconsin on the grounds that it has caused some UW professors to leave the university.
"You don't even have to be gay for this ban to affect you," Student Council member Samantha Ziesemer said. "When it comes to all students, we are losing professors over this."
Just this summer UW engineering professor Rob Carpick announced his resignation because, he said, the university could not provide health benefits for his partner.
Along with Carpick's service as a professor, the university lost $3.4 million in grants he had won while working here.
UW is the only Big Ten school that does not offer health benefits to domestic partners.
However, others argued that the ban does not affect students and that ASM should therefore steer clear of any public statements on the matter.
Student Council member Zach Frey said while he doesn't support a constitutional ban on civil unions, he doesn't support ASM taking a stance on the issue, either.
According to Frey, the role of ASM is to support every student at UW, not a place to advocate political interests.
ASM has become embroiled in this quandary before. The group attracted political attention when it publicly opposed the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq, according to Frey, and he said the same thing would happen should ASM publicly oppose the ban on gay marriage and civil unions.
"If this was an issue urging the UW administration or the state Legislature to reconsider the policy of domestic partner benefits at the university that would be a very different issue," he said. "That clearly has a direct effect on students. … This has no direct effect on students."
ASM did not decide whether to publicly oppose the constitutional ban. The issue will be readdressed at the next meeting.
Anonymous (September 5, 2006 @ 12:48am):
Nice work, ASM, since WHEN do you have state jurisdiction?
Be quiet, please.
Anonymous (September 19, 2006 @ 8:23am):
The proposed amendment will ultimately be used to make sure that state and UW employees do not get domestic partner benefits. The authors of the amendment can claim whatever they like, but when 3rd party groups representing "the taxpayers" sue the university for even allowing bereavement leave when an employee's partner dies, I doubt they'll step up to the plate to help out.
Zach Frey doesn't get the issue, and given how much he tried to cut me off from speaking when I was one of the only out gay members of ASM, I'm not surprised.
--Dan Ross
