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Student leaders pour over draft

JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo

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Also by Peter Sielski:

City committee debates pending budget (September 11, 2007)
Educating our veterans (September 6, 2007)
Faculty vote to check records (May 8, 2007)
Greeks 150 years young (May 7, 2007)
Financial group elects '07 chair (May 7, 2007)

by Peter Sielski

Thursday, March 1, 2007

After a heated debate Wednesday lasted late into the night, the Associated Students of Madison Student Council decided to take no action on the controversial alcohol policy concerning members of student organizations.

The council also approved increasing funding for this spring's All Campus Party to more than $40,000.

However, it was the alcohol policy — originally drafted by the Student Organization Office — that dominated Wednesday's meeting. Some students have criticized the drafted policy for being too vague.

ASM council member Steve Lawrence proposed a resolution to officially reject the policy and outline the council's objections, but council members eventually voted the resolution down.

"Before, the issue was just a discussion item, and council members just sat there hunched over," Lawrence said. "I'm very happy that it got council members talking and thinking about the policy. It shows that they feel strongly about the issue."

Since Lawrence's proposal did not pass, ASM discussed possible ways to draft a new policy that is neither too vague nor too specific, but also takes student opinions into account.

According to SOO Associate Director Renee Alfano, who originally circulated the policy, the new draft will be available for changes throughout the process and is aimed at risk management.

"This is just a draft policy; nothing is set in stone," Alfano said. "We're not trying to ruin students' fun. We're only trying to increase safety and lower liability for the student groups."

Alfano added the policy was formed with "two tiers in mind" — to form a policy to reduce high-risk activities and to educate students for safety.

The council addressed the policy's consistency at Wednesday's meeting as well as its ability to be enforced.

"We want to make sure that the new policy will have an effect on student safety that stays consistent within the groups affected," ASM Chair Dylan Rath said. "We also want fair enforcement rather than to increase enforceability."

Alfano said the most important thing now is to get students involved in creating the policy and added she would attempt to use a combination of an open forum of interested parties and a blog where any student can input their thoughts.

However, council member and Student Services Finance Committee Chair Zach Frey said open forums are not an effective or efficient way to accomplish a task like revising the alcohol policy.

Alfano said there was not enough student involvement with the initial introduction of the proposed policy, but she added she hopes to build on the exposure in recent weeks.

"Because of the momentum we now have, we want to use that energy and get an open forum going," Alfano said. "At the same time, we want to meet with student organizations — especially with those we can't get around the table."

Joe Ebinger, student representative from the All Campus Party, also proposed a funding increase to ASM for the events in April at the meeting. Ebinger said that they hosted the largest alcohol-alternative parties on campus, and the group also promoted campus diversity and was deserving of additional funds. The council voted to add $1,080 to provide for advertising, which would bring the total budget to more than $40,000.

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Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 3:51am):

steve lawrence is the new magnet.

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 7:26am):

Photographer, have you ever heard of "white balance?"

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 7:52am):

Note to the photo dept: lay off the shadows/highlights tool. That's just shameful to run a photo that horribly posterized.

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 10:00am):

pour over? were the students liquified?

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 10:27am):

"Because of the momentum we now have, we want to use that energy and get an open forum going," Alfano said. "At the same time, we want to meet with student organizations -- especially with those we can't get around the table."

BECAUSE OF THE MOMENTUM THAT STUDENTS FORCED THEM TO BEGIN .... what a lame-o

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 11:23am):

I think you wanted 'pore over,' Mr. or Ms. Headline Writer. Yep, that's what you wanted. Nice try.

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 2:01pm):

ASM Council please know that this policy was not even close to being implemented. It has also had input from students and faculty. If you look at the Committee of Student Organizations there are those who have been fighting against such a strong policy. Where is your support for them?
- Germain E. Stemme

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 2:27pm):

Maybe "pour over" was a pun ... but then, they should have gone with "draught."

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 2:31pm):

the all campus party grant was approved at $37,000 not "more than 40,000"

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 2:49pm):

I am a liquid being. I pour over things. Kind of a boring article.

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 4:11pm):

By the way, who is the woman featured in the photo? No captions, no mention of who she is in the article (she's not Renee Alfano). It's such a horrible digital photo, as other posters have pointed out. So why feature her at all? Because she's wearing UW red? Or is it because she has large breasts and is making cupping motions with her hands?

Anonymous (March 1, 2007 @ 5:10pm):

The picture is of SOO Associate Director Renee Alfano. It is a pretty bad photo of her, although the one in the print edition was a lot better.

Anonymous (April 4, 2007 @ 9:33am):

Renee Alfano is NOT an advocate for students. The SOO is NOT a positive environment on this campus.

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