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Destroy ASM? Too late

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Also by Gerald Cox:

Put transient threat in perspective (April 14, 2008)
Vigilance key to preventing tragedy (April 7, 2008)
Stick with seg fee pros in election (March 24, 2008)
Obama to learn lesson in losing (March 10, 2008)
Iraqis to UW for free? Bring 'em on (March 3, 2008)

by Gerald Cox

Monday, April 21, 2008

It seems fitting that a photograph of a mostly empty room would so aptly exemplify the students’ frustrations with the University of Wisconsin’s very own attempt at student government. Yet two words would suffice for the picture appended to a recent Badger Herald news article headlined, “First ‘State of the ASM’ not well-attended”: “Failure. Again.”

The picture boasts the most candid shot of the Associated Students of Madison’s well-intentioned, yet poorly named and executed “State of the ASM” address: five students, three seated at the front of the room behind desks as if prepared to address the virtually nonexistent audience. The aforementioned virtually non-existent audience appears at first glance to be one eager, but average student. However, upon closer inspection, it is in reality Alex Gallagher, chair of ASM’s Student Services Finance Committee, who probably knows all too well about ASM’s state.

Those familiar with our university’s student government were probably nonplussed at the prospect of ASM receiving little to no attention by the student body in general. After all, the average student certainly cares little for ASM and knows even less about what it does. Look no further than the ASM elections, where our student body embarrasses itself year after year by thumbing its nose at the prospect of shared governance, fiscal responsibility and whatever else it is that ASM does.

As students, we insist on a caricature of ASM that is always comical and perpetually ineffectual. We couldn’t care less, they couldn’t be any worse at what we say they do, and hardly any of us will vote in their trivial elections, much less attend their irrelevant addresses. But if ASM has failed to deliver adequate representation, as its critics are quick to insist, then we as a student body have failed ASM.

Those who refuse to participate in democracy can hardly feel that they deserve it. This year, only 7.3 percent of the student body bothered to vote in an election that spanned three days. Ninety percent of the students on this campus could not be bothered to vote for a candidate they supported, or against one they opposed. Such a turnout reveals what the UW student body has been insisting for years. Students are telling ASM they don’t want them, respect them or need them. Perhaps it’s time to start listening.

When less than 10 percent of those you represent have indicated a willingness to either condone or oppose your representing them, one must consider his or her right to represent them. ASM may have some legal grounds on which to operate, but it has no mandate from students to represent them.

To end this ridiculous farce, the administration must institute a threshold turnout of 10 percent in next year’s election. If less than 10 percent of the student body votes in the ASM elections then ASM will be suspended until the next year when an election to reinstate student government will be held. Each year, students would not just be voting for representatives on ASM, but deciding whether or not ASM itself should continue to function.

ASM is not a government so much as it is a voice. It is a reflection of us, the students of UW-Madison. It is how the administration hears our concerns, how our voices dictate the use of segregated fees in our control. Its legitimacy is grounded in our allowance. Yet, we call for its dismissal by our unwillingness to even acknowledge it exists. We fail to necessitate its existence by our lack of involvement in its undertakings. The attendance records of errant Council members come from a realization that the student body does not hold them accountable. We’ll point and giggle when embarrassing pictures surface in campus newspapers, but you’d be hard pressed to get us to cast a single vote.

The picture of the so-called “State of the ASM” isn’t just a failure on the part of ASM — again. It is a failure on our part to recognize the power of our own voices. So take that voice from us and maybe we’ll realize how powerful it is.

It’s time to destroy ASM. For we already have. 

Gerald Cox (gcox@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in economics.

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Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 1:09am):

so the entire student body should be punished for the failures of a couple dozen students.

right

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 5:37am):

pretty bad argument; it's not the fault of UW students that ASM is bad

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 8:01am):

ASM is most definitely not a voice, it is an 'organization' of resume padders. ASM should have but one more campaign called: Disband ASM.

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 12:28pm):

I see Paris, I see France, I see "Student Government" coming back!
- Germain E. Stemme

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 1:43pm):

If ASM disbands, what will happen to Seg. Fees? Will the Chancellor be deciding who gets what? I don't know about you, but I want to keep my bus pass, my Safe Cab rides, and my free trips to UHS thank you very much.

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 2:07pm):

15 people representing over 40,000 students? That is crazy. ASM needs to be larger. Maybe at least one rep. from every department. There might be a chance of actually knowing or seeing the person that represents you once.

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 5:16pm):

Anonymous @ 1:43pm

ASM really has nothing to do with UHS. It rubber stamps the budget, no control. The Safe Cab program is administered by Transportation Services and has been rubber stamped by ASM for 5 years. The bus pass could easily be rolled into Transportation Services, and that has been recommended for years, but ASM lackeys control that job and don't want to give up the staff to save money.

Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 10:20pm):

Seg fees are important, but I have always thought the most important part of any student government is the ability to work with the administration and staff. I think that many people don't realize the "student council" is perhaps the most minor portion of ASM. SJ, SSFC, and Shared gov, are clearly the most important, and I FULLY believe that they are pulling their weight.

I watched Shared Governance put students in committees that will influence our immediate and future at UW Madison. These students help make decision on the football lottery (Athletic Board), expansion of the NAT (Recreational Sports Board), development of Lake shore, and plan for snow removal (Campus Transportation Committee), or sitting on a panel deciding you're suspension case (Academic Misconduct Panel).

If we got rid of ASM and the administration took control of these fees, they (staff/admin.) would still make the same decisions but without the student input. So, yes, in the end the administration could do the work ASM does, but ASM places qualified students on to these committees which affect almost every aspect of these campus.

And that in my mind is what I want anyways in my government: staff, students, and administration looking for real solutions, together.

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