The Badger Herald: Opinion: ASM a student voice on campus

Updated Saturday, November 21, 2009, at 6:41 p.m.

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Opinion: Guest column

ASM a student voice on campus

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Also by Brittany Wiegand:

ASM in need of higher salaries (October 15, 2008)
ASM a student voice on campus (September 10, 2008)

By Brittany Wiegand
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:00 a.m.

2 Vote 0 Votes

Soon after I transferred to this campus, I heard talk of a large, puzzling organization. While walking to class, students behind tables tried to convince me to come to this organization’s kickoff, promising me new experiences and opportunities. However, it was not until I got involved in ASM that I began to truly understand the meaning of this mysterious acronym.

ASM, or the Associated Students of Madison, is your student government here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. If you’re from a high school that’s anything like mine, you’re probably thinking that Student Council is just a bunch of popular kids that plan homecoming. Not so. ASM is a student government with $1 million operating budget devoted to four main issues: advocacy, representation, student services and allocation. Several different committees operate under the supervision of the ASM Student Council, some of which require applicants to go through an interview and others which are open. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s undergoing a major facelift this year, making now the ideal time to get involved (and I’m not saying this because I’m the chair).

ASM is so powerful because of the influence students wield in the state of Wisconsin. State Statute 36.09(5) charges students to be “active participants in the immediate governance of and policy development” for our various institutions. The statute also gives us the responsibility of allocating student segregated fees, of which students in ASM oversee $32 million. ASM makes student-run services possible on campus and ensures the continuation of programs such as a free tutoring service, a radio station and social justice programming. ASM, through the allocation of segregated fees, works to foster and promote a vibrant student life here on campus. This year, our Finance Committee has $300,000 to allocate to student organizations for events. A different financial committee, the Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC), has direct control over $7 million of segregated fees. The Student Activity Center Governing Board allocates and manages space in the new student center opening in January. ASM has funds set up for students with disabilities and has also garnered a contract to provide rape crisis services.

ASM works to advocate for students through grassroots campaigns and committees, some of which include: the Diversity Committee, Legislative Affairs, Academic Affairs and the VOTE 2008 Coalition. The need for advocacy on behalf of students is increasingly evident. Critical issues like diminishing state funding and decreasing accessibility to education are issues we try to address through advocacy work, and that work never ends. Finally, ASM provides representation. Student Council consists of 33 elected representatives, who make decisions regarding a wide array of topics pertaining to student life. ASM’s Shared Governance Committee appoints about a hundred students annually to shared governance committees across campus. Students on these committees sit beside faculty and administrators and craft policies concerning different aspects of the campus.

I could go on about the good parts of ASM, but I’m also the first to admit ASM has problems. We consistently have low voter turnout. We lack meaningful ways to connect with students. We try to take on huge issues. The most recent session began in May with several problems to tackle, but many people within the organization have stepped up to address them head-on. This year, we have a myriad of changes occurring. We’re working to improve internal accountability by holding officers (chairs of committees, elected representatives and staff) responsible to you, the people who elected us. We’re creating new organizational systems to make our records more accessible to students. Student Council is working to improve outreach and create ways to obtain meaningful student feedback. ASM Vice Chair Hannah Karns and I are creating a strategic plan for the organization that will push ASM to think long-term about organization-wide initiatives and objectives, with the intention of improving overall effectiveness. These are but four examples of changes we are making, and the list is nowhere near exhaustive.

Perhaps the biggest change is the rewriting of the ASM Constitution. ASM established a committee last May that was charged with that very task. In fact, the committee did more than rewrite — it has basically scrapped most of the current structure and is working to create a more effective organization.

So this is where you come in. Regardless of your current feelings of ASM, now is the time get involved and try to do something to make your student government work better. This is your chance to shape the student government and make it into something that will be what you, as students, need.

Brittany Wiegand (blwiegand@wisc.edu) is the Chair of the Associated Students of Madison.

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