If you are like most students at the University of Wisconsin, you know ASM as the acronym in bold on your bus pass. But the Associated Students of Madison were once a major force on campus, with representatives even barricading themselves in the chancellor’s office to protest Badger gear made in sweatshops during February 2000. If ASM is such an exciting organization, why do ASM voter turnouts rarely surpass 8 percent? Although the question of voter turnout is a complex issue, the upcoming vote on the new ASM constitution on Feb. 23 to 24 makes it important for the 8 percent of students who do care to understand what they are voting for.

Few students would argue the point that ASM needs to change and get more involved with students on campus, despite the rigidly polarized stances of the Vote Yes and Vote No coalitions. The Vote Yes initiative for the new constitution claims reform is an important priority and the Vote No initiative does not disagree. Vote No is not trying to block reform efforts in ASM; it merely takes an issue with how the current reform is being considered.

According to the website advocating the new ASM constitution, the three primary roles of ASM are supporting student interests, making appointments to committees and distributing funding. The last point is a major concern for those opposed to the new constitution because they fear a powerful executive branch could redistribute funding to organizations it sees as valuable. Organizations concerned of cut funding include the Campus Women’s Center, Sex Out Loud, Student Tenant Union, Campus Antiwar Network and several others. The other major concern of those opposed to the ASM constitution is that the significant increase in executive power with little legislative oversight could be a major threat to student interests and potentially disastrous if mishandled.

Currently, the ASM consists of a council of 33 members who attempt to address student interests through grassroots campaign committees. This method ends up being inefficient because the complex range of student interests makes it difficult to take any action at all. The new ASM constitution would allow the executive branch to veto any budgets or bylaws, and it would require a three-quarters vote from the senate to override the veto. There would also be an executive order power that though it is considered an emergency provision, would give the president total power over ASM until the senate votes to repeal this authority. Since the ASM constitution is based upon the U.S. Constitution, many would agree a powerful executive branch with little oversight is less than ideal and would allow executive decisions to go undisputed.

However, it is clear ASM, as an organization, is not a functioning, well-oiled machine. Allowing the executive branch to make appointments and guide ASM in a particular direction would provide an opportunity to make the organization work more efficiently in the future. Although there would be potential for corruption, particularly regarding distribution of funding, it does not necessarily mean such corruption will take place. If the Vote No faction agrees reform is necessarily but suspects future corruption, perhaps a better course of action would be to keep a close eye on bureaucratic decisions and to nominate representatives to run as future candidates.

Both Vote Yes and Vote No advocates agree something needs to be done about ASM — it needs to be reformed. As always in American government, both sides have become incredibly polarized and increasingly hostile toward one another. While each camp has valid points, increasing executive power would allow ASM to play a larger role in student life by making it easier to enact legislation. It would also establish more authority and guidance within ASM and so would increase accountability on every level, forcing each individual to work toward a common goal. Despite their binary disagreement, both sides of the constitution issue believe ASM has stagnated and needs to revitalize its relationship with the student population.

After seeing the passionate involvement from both Democrats and Republicans on campus that took place during the recent national election, it is obvious Madison is as political as ever. UW students are passionate about politics and know what they are talking about. If ASM wants to be taken seriously, they need to take their student voters seriously and not underestimate voter knowledge of politics. To legitimize the organization they could start hosting debates during ASM elections instead of ice cream socials. By voting yes on the new ASM constitution, students would be giving ASM a chance to redeem itself as an organization and allowing it to reestablish itself as a powerful conduit for student interests on campus.

Casey Skeens ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in French.