OPINION & EDITORIAL
ASM Must Put Rhetoric Into Action to Impact Students
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Also by Matt Modell:
- Taking responsibility for your decisions (April 24, 2003)
- An honorable and just battle (November 20, 2003)
- Ethical behavior should be encouraged at universities (December 10, 2003)
- Fixing the problems of ASM (November 25, 2003)
- The key word is 'illegal' (December 4, 2003)
Related Stories:
- Upcoming election presents important choices for campus (March 24, 2006)
- Reflecting on a wild ride (May 5, 2005)
- Readership dropping for newspapers (October 31, 2005)
- Fall 2003 - Who we are (August 29, 2003)
- Censorship via blackmail (October 10, 2001)
by Matt Modell
Friday, January 17, 2003
Every week campus newspapers are filled with news articles, opinion pieces and even the occasional editorial cartoon about the antics of Associated Students of Madison, our student government.
The majority of the news generated and controversy surrounding ASM does not involve the issues that will affect your life on a daily basis but are instead about the allocatable segregated fees that are included on your tuition bill.
Seg fees have had their 15 minutes of fame multiple times, having been debated all the way to the United States Supreme Court. For student government to survive and maintain any kind of effectiveness, it is time for the issue to be resolved so liberals and conservatives alike can move forward to work together on issues that will improve student life on campus.
Because seg fees dominate student government business, little else is accomplished. The in-fighting is a turn-off such that few people take much interest in the broader possibilities of student government. Seg fees only serve special interests, not the student body at large. Both liberals and conservatives run for election on the fee issue alone, with little regard to any other initiatives student government may undertake.
Conservatives run on the promise to fight increases in taxes on your tuition bill by keeping seg fees down. Liberals run with the promise to take care of all the special-interest groups and usually come though with thousands, or sometimes even millions, of dollars for their pet causes.
Liberals in ASM were adamant about protecting seg fees, citing state statute 36.09(5), which mandates students have a voice in the governance of the university. It is time to truly give students the ultimate choice and then move on to real issues of broad student concern.
The student council should vote to place a binding referendum question on the spring ASM election ballot asking students what funding system should be in place. Allow students to decide if everyone should be required to pay seg fees, or whether we should go to a different system, like an opt-in system, where a student can check a box on their tuition bill certifying they would like to pay this additional tax.
The U.S. Supreme Court said it is unconstitutional to have a referendum deciding whether individual groups receive funding because that method is not viewpoint-neutral and allows the majority to silence groups in the minority, while furthering their own causes.
It is, however, perfectly constitutional to have a referendum question to decide how the funding process will be administered.
In fact, this is a true exercise of state statute 36.09(5), allowing 40,000 voices to be heard on how their seg-fee system will work.
By giving this voice to the students through referendum, it will allow for more students to run for student council who care about student issues, not just fees.
This semester ASM is talking about increasing peer-advising programs. These programs can be particularly helpful to freshmen and new students on this large and sometimes intimidating campus.
ASM will also lobby for keeping College Library open 24 hours a day during the academic year, providing students with diverse sleep, work and mid-term schedules a quiet place to study with access to the millions of resources available through the campus’ library system.
Sub-committees are also looking at tenants’ rights issues and protecting students against phony and sometimes illegal deductions that some landlords take out of tenants’ security deposits. City and campus officials have made repeated attempts to attribute nearly all of the city’s problems with lawlessness to student drinking, and students are trying to combat those myths and protect drink specials at area bars and restaurants. Campus safety issues, increased after-hour parking around libraries and improvements to exercise facilities and unions are also areas of concern to students.
These issues all directly affect student-life on this campus, and yet they are bogged down over petty, often personal disputes regarding segregated fees. Only when student-government officials stop focusing on money and special interest groups — this means they need to start by making huge deductions to their own stipends, many of which are now over $3,000 a year — will legitimacy and respect return to student government.
Being on student government should not be about getting a nice paycheck, or getting large sums of money for your pet causes. We should want people to be in student government because they actually want to improve the standard of living on this campus for everyone. This is a noble vision and yet far beyond the comprehension of most on student council. They rather “protect the student voice” by not letting students’ voice their opinion.
Matt Modell (mmodell@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.
