Associated Students of Madison approved a bylaw establishing a procedure for determining what signage can be placed in office windows.
Legislation for the Black Lives Matter sign was tabled indefinitely.
The legislation was proposed after a BLM sign, put up by the 23rd session, was taken down at the end of the 24th session during a routine cleaning and was never put back up.
The new bylaw would require ASM members to detail the dimensions, message and purpose of signage they wish to include in the window. Signs would also need to be approved before being placed in the office window. Because legislation expires at the end of session, all signage will be taken down at the end of each ASM session.
Laura Downer, chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee said the bylaw amendment was made so that future sessions would have a policy in place for signage.
As a result of the bylaw, ASM voted to postpone indefinitely the proposed BLM sign legislation because of redundancy in the language.
“With the bylaw change, essentially half of [the legislation] becomes irrelevant,” Downer said. “Because of all the debate that we had in the last meeting on it, I think it’s best to give the sponsors an opportunity to write a brand new piece of legislation that’s more comprehensive.”
Rep. Agalia Ardyasa, who sponsored the BLM sign legislation said she planned to create new legislation to replace the sign that was removed from the ASM offices at the end of last session.
Ardyasa said the sign, in line with the bylaw, would serve a significant purpose for students on campus. Ardyasa, who is Chair of the Equity and Inclusion Committee, said the sign sends an important message of support to marginalized students on campus, even if ASM itself is not very racially or ethnically diverse.
“We don’t really have many of these students in the Student Council,” Ardyasa said. “Putting the sign up can show that we actually care, and [they’re] very welcome if they want to be a part of the organization.”
ASM also voted to postpone discussing the Ice Cream for All Legislation until the next council meeting.
Rep. Jared Lang, one of the sponsors of the legislation who seconded the motion to postpone the legislation, said in light of conversations ASM members had with organizations on campus – namely the dining halls and Babcock Dairy – they can focus on “on the issue with the other parties involved while keeping the legislation in mind,” Lang said in an email to The Badger Herald.
“We’re making such great progress already, and the relationships that we’ve made have been very productive,” Lang said. “We feel like we’re in a position where we can postpone this legislation until a later date assuming all goes well with our current endeavors.”
Chair Billy Welsh said Vice Chair Yogev Ben-Yitschak met with UW Housing, who agreed to start labeling ice cream flavors that contained beef in student dining halls.
Lang said he and Welsh met with officials from the Babcock Dairy plant and brainstormed solutions that would benefit affected students.
Lang declined to comment on specific ideas that were proposed, saying that they were still in the works, but said he plans to meet with Babcock at least two or three times throughout the semester.
“We have a bunch of ideas right now, but we don’t have them confirmed, because there are a lot of moving parts to this,” Lang said. “We do have a bunch of good ideas that, if our working relationship continues, I’m sure are going to work out.”
ASM proposes taking action against gelatin in Babcock ice cream
The interim Dean of Students Argyle Wade also spoke to ASM at the start of the meeting about what he hopes to focus on in the coming year.
Wade said a commitment to social justice, civic engagement, health, and wellness and safety of students are all points of focus for him this year.
“This is not a treading water year,” Wade said. “This is a moving forward year.”
Correction: A previous version of this article stated the “Ice Cream for All” legislation was postponed indefinitely. The discussion of this legislation has been postponed until next meeting. The Badger Herald regrets this error.
