Student Council seeks freshman representatives

by Jacquelyn Ryberg

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 00:00

The University of Wisconsin’s student government is opening four freshman Student Council representative positions this fall, making way for fresh faces and new perspectives for the organization.

According to Brittany Wiegand, Associated Students of Madison chair, the fall elections will be conducted in mid-October and will last three days. Freshmen wishing to run will be required to submit a candidate declaration form by Sept. 22. The form can be found on ASM’s website or outside of ASM’s office in the fifth floor of Memorial Union.

The positions are reserved exclusively for freshmen — students that have less than 24 progress credits.

“We have run into these issues in the past,” Wiegand said. “There are sometimes problems when incoming students come in with too many AP credits and they cannot run for the freshman positions.”

The commitment for a Student Council position requires representatives to attend biweekly meetings, join a committee, lobby the state Legislature for affordable tuition and attend a United Council event, Wiegand said.

According to Lindsay Bembenek, a former freshman student council representative and incoming College of Letters and Science representative, Student Council responsibilities are significant, but manageable.

“Freshman year is kind of a tricky transition, and ASM was definitely a bigger time commitment than I was anticipating,” Bembenek said. “I took 14 credits my first semester, and I was still able to do a lot of other clubs. I definitely think the time commitment is feasible for freshmen.”

According to Greg Smith, College of Letters and Science associate dean, national research indicates students with connections outside of the classroom are more likely to have success in college. This includes better grades, a higher chance of a timely graduation and successful post-graduate careers.

But Smith said students should avoid becoming overextended with all of the opportunities offered at UW.

“Students should not get so involved that they become distracted from what they are there to do, which is to take classes and graduate,” Smith said.

Student Council provides experience within different spectra, including overseeing and approving budgets, lobbying for campaigns and making chief decisions for the entire body of ASM, Wiegand said.

“It is particularly beneficial for the student who knows for sure they want to go into politics,” Wiegand added. “But it is very valuable to others because the breadth of issues that ASM has to deal with goes far beyond legal studies or political science.”