With this year's Associated Students of Madison Student Council elections approaching, ASM representatives grilled Student Union Initiative representatives on the details of the initiative's financial and construction plans.

The Student Union Initiative will be voted on in the Student Council election Oct. 18 and 19, along with the Living Wage referendum.

The Student Union Initiative aims to bring the Memorial Union up to current safety and accessibility standards and construct a new Union South.

UW junior and Student Union Initiative member Stephanie Krubsack said she is concerned about what might happen to the Union if the initiative is not passed.

"We are worried that they will take away Union South and change it into a retailing space," she said.

Although Student Union Initiative representatives predict the project will be completed by 2014 should the initiative pass, the loan will take 30 years to pay off, according to Travis Slattery, a Student Union Initiative representative.

If the majority of UW students vote in favor of the initiative, students will pay $48 per semester in segregated fees over the first two years, and $96 per semester for each subsequent year.

UW senior and Student Union Initiative member Tristan Sather said the design team includes nine students, two faculty members, two alumni and two staff members.

But despite the initiative's goal, several Student Council members raised concerns of the use of student-segregated fees. Representative Erika Lopez said the large dedication of student-segregated fees would mean fewer scholarships in the long run.

Lopez said the Student Union Initiative should be about more than trying to make the union "look pretty."

Another issue brought forward during the open forum was the new proposed voting structure within ASM's Shared Governance Committee. The voting structure — proposed by representative Patrick McLeod — raised a few eyebrows within the council.

The proposed voting process, called "collective voting," is still in the beginning stages of development, though.

"The state statute says that it is our right and responsibility to do shared governance, but it doesn't say what form shared governance should take," McLeod said. "The statute gives us a legal basis in a very broad way."

Wisconsin Union Directorate President Shayna Hetzel said she had multiple concerns regarding the proposed voting process. She said collective voting would slow the discussion and progress of ASM committees.

"If this something ASM is interested in pursuing, then there would have to be an amendment to the bylaws," Hetzel said.

The Student Council did not make any decisions regarding the restructured voting proposal.