OPINION & EDITORIAL
ASM not perfect, but still working
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Also by Hannah Karns:
- Legislators serve up chicken soup for the seriously ill soul (November 30, 2007)
- ASM not perfect, but still working (October 31, 2007)
- Election day voters left hanging by bill (October 17, 2007)
- Legislation to give immigrants rights they deserve (October 4, 2007)
- UW offers bogus two-for-one special (September 20, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Holding our breath... (October 23, 2006)
- Diversity deserves attention at UW (December 7, 2007)
- Add a regent, add a voice (October 24, 2001)
- ASM web page 'sucks' (November 16, 2007)
- ASM must work for respect of students, university (April 27, 2005)
by Hannah Karns
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
I would be rich if I received a dollar every time I heard something along the lines of "The Associated Students of Madison are useless." My favorite has probably been "ASM accomplishes nothing and steals students’ money." Wow.
As the current legislative affairs chair of ASM, I am rendered speechless at these ignorant and often cruel comments. How and why are the students on this campus embittered and unwilling to trust their student government? Call me naÃ
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 7:55am):
$430 in segregated fees is why we all hate ASM. While that could be productive rent/grocery/bus/utility/anything at all money, ASM hands it out to student groups that most students never care to interact with.
Sure, perks like the SERF and the bus pass are nice, but I could have paid for it myself and still had money left over. Also, I wouldn't have had a problem studying at home after midnight.
Oh, and remember the time two years ago, when ASM wanted more of our money? ASM called redo on elections until it won that money. That's another reason why we hate ASM.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 8:50am):
ASM does do a great job. Part of the reason is the close scrutiny by the BH. If only they were able to expose a lot of the wasted spending of our seg fee dollars that ASM has no control over. UHS, the Union, and Rec Sports (among others) all deserve much more scrutiny as to what they do with seg fees. The Union recently bullied through a referendum (on the third try and after crying foul during a disputed election - getting a re-vote) that will cost students $192 per student per year FOR 30 YEARS. ASM can and should fix the referendum process. Most of that money will be wasted on Union South. The most an SSFC/ASM-controlled (called allocable) budget for a group would cost is $10 per student per year and very few "allocable" groups get more than $3 per student per year.
Stop the abuse -- investigate the expenses that have virtually no outside oversight yet tap students for millions per year.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 9:02am):
Hell yeah Hannah Karns I love you!
Mike Pruden (October 31, 2007 @ 9:54am):
"As it stands, Student Council operates under Roberts Rules of Order. For those who are unfamiliar with this method of running meetings, it is laborious and unproductive."
That's what Ground Rules are for. Depending on the level of formality of the meeting, it's obvious you can set aside certain aspects of RONR depending on the situation via establishing ground rules and customs.
Why don't we just have yelling and pissing contests on issues instead of any organized democratic procedure? Oh wait, that's what we already have.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 11:21am):
you wrote: "$430 in segregated fees is why we all hate ASM. While that could be productive rent/grocery/bus/utility/anything at all money, ASM hands it out to student groups that most students never care to interact with."
ASM 'hands out' 12% of that -- the rest is 'non-allocable' and out of ASM's control. $96 per student per year was added due to a referendum in which only %4 of the students voted and only 500 or so more yes votes than no. And the referendum had already been defeated at least twice and kept coming back.
Next year (and for 28 years after that), the $96 becomes $192 (they promised then-sophs and juniors that they would only have to pay half the annual fee and stick freshman and future students with the full $192 per year). How about a recall referendum on the Union? Most people would vote yes on bringing Memorial Union up to code and no on demolishing Union South and rebuilding it. Most (at least 60%) of that $192 per student per year for 30 years would go away.
How about reforming the referendum process so that a 40% turnout or higher is required for a binding referendum involving more than $20 million? How about requiring that it be broken down per building project (separating things like the Union from Union South) and further breaking it down by what is required to bring something up to building code and what is an amenity (like the climbing wall and sports bar proposed for Union South)?
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 12:23pm):
As much as I'd love to jump all over ASM for being useless, they really don't control much of the seg fee pie:
http://registrar.wisc.edu/students/fees_tuition/segfees2.php
I can't say that I'm that pissed off about the $8.28 that goes to student activities. Not where there's giant piles going to UHS and intramural sports without any oversight.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 12:58pm):
Student Government is like a diaper. It should be changed often and for the same reasons.
- Germain E. Stemme
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 1:03pm):
Congratulations on developing a committee!
Could you clue us in on what that committee actually does? Because I didn't see that anywhere in your statement.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 1:19pm):
And lest we forget that our annual tuition INCREASES alone are more than the total amount we pay in seg fees, thanks to both dems and repubs downtown.
Anonymous (October 31, 2007 @ 2:13pm):
For all the complaining about seg fees here, does anyone here actually realize that they're only passed along with the full blessing of the UW Administration?
For all the talk of "student power", the chancellor has complete control over the seg fee budget, and has no qualms about using it to pay for any sort of service (health, diversity, etc.) that the University deems necessary. Do you realy think it's lost on old Wiley that the seg fee budget is his one chance to construct a budget that does not require approval by the state government?
Even more ingenious is that ASM is trotted out as the whipping boy. A new group of students gets blamed each year, everyone graduates and forgets about it, and then the process repeats itself.
But hey, play along with it if you'd like.
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