News

Officer titles to change

The titles of senior class president, vice president, treasurer and secretary may soon become a thing of the past, Associated Students of Madison leaders said Thursday.

Senior class officers currently do not officially report to ASM, nor do they have many responsibilities beyond finding commencement speakers and photographers.

“Basically the main point is that there was really no report mechanism for the senior class officers of who they were under, or who they reported to, or who they took direction from,” said former Senior Class Vice President Samantha Ziesemer, who has remained a part of the process despite her graduation in May.

New ASM legislation has been in the works for several years that would turn the four positions into “Senior Class Commencement Officers” and put them under the direct control of Student Council.

“There is no difference between president, vice president, secretary and treasurer at this point,” Ziesemer said.

Student Council member Jeff Wright said discussions are still preliminary, but ASM should begin official discourse about the matter within the next few weeks.

“Sam and others, and ASM leaders, will have to be in communication with administrative units on campus, especially the secretary of the faculty,” Wright said. “This is preliminary, but that doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about it.”

Talks of the changes have become more serious since Senior Class President Oliver Delgado pled guilty last week to stealing six Van Galder bus tickets from Memorial Union last March.

There is no current system to remove a senior class officer from his or her position, but new senior class commencement officers would be subject to the same impeachment process as other ASM officials.

There is no indication whether or not Delgado will resign.

“I don’t think it necessarily stems directly from what has happened with the senior class president,” Wright said. “But I think it recognizes the fact that officers need to be held a little more responsible.”

Ziesemer stressed the idea was discussed before the Delgado situation.

“This has been kind of thrown around the past couple of years,” she said. “However, I’m sure recent events have brought it more to the public eye.”

If passed, the legislation would go into effect for the class of 2010.