Students have been at the forefront of every social movement in this country, from the civil-rights marches to the Vietnam War protests. This is the foundation on which ASM was created — students have the power to affect change in their community. The only things they need are the resources to utilize that power.
Every day on your campus you are impacted by the work of both past and present ASM members, whether it’s riding the bus to campus, using professor evaluations to decide what classes to take or listening to student radio.
Unfortunately, many of these accomplishments get lost as seniors graduate and new freshmen arrive. Some people have taken advantage of the short institutional memory on campus to push their own agenda.
The recent opinion piece, promoting the return of the Unity slate, works to misrepresent the accomplishments of Unity and ASM, following Unity’s demise.
During my time at ASM, we worked to bring a focus back to the organization that had been lacking during the Unity years. By “Getting Things Done,” we prioritized working on student issues on which ASM has the power and resources to affect change: tuition, campus safety, diversity and tenant-rights issues.
A year into my professional career, I am realizing just how right we were to focus on the bread and butter issues of the organization. Too many times organizations become burdened by taking on too many issues. Every organization struggles with the limited resources of people, time and money.
When an organization bites off more than it can chew, it risks watering down the effectiveness of those precious resources. Improving the effectiveness of ASM was not the only challenge we faced.
ASM had a severe credibility problem with not only the student body but also the university administration. By bringing a focus back to the core student issues, we were able to recruit a larger number of students into the organization.
That year was one of the most active in the organization for recruiting new people and new ideas. Many of the current ASM leaders were brought into the organization during this time, including ASM Chair Brian Gadow and also Phil Ejercito, the author of the Unity article.
Equally important, we were able to create credibility for ASM within the administration and effect significant changes for students via our relationship with university officials.
One of the most significant was the protection of student fees. ASM convinced the Attorney General’s office and the Board of Regents’ attorneys that students were best able to develop a viewpoint-neutral system after the Shabaz ruling.
Just last week, this system was found to be viewpoint neutral. This is a clear example of the success that can occur when students and the administration work together.
This success carried over into other areas like tenants’ rights and the alcohol debate. Both issues were
brought to students the year after Unity collapsed, not during their reign. ASM created the “Worst House in Madison” contest and began collecting information for a database of tenant complaints that was completed during the following year’s work.
During the 2000 session, the ban on alcohol drinks was first proposed. ASM successfully opposed the ban and worked to attack the real problem of binge-drinking on campus by promoting alternative activities for students. We worked with the administration to create an online database of on-campus activities to promote alternatives to binge-drinking.
These victories were not the result of any single individual but the product of many hard–working volunteers, interns and staff. Unfortunately, the media only gives credit for the successes and failures of the organization to the leadership, thus projecting the image that these issues are worked on by the whims of one individual. They twist the truth of events to try and demonize a single person.
However, the true demon in ASM is the party system that works to divide students. The antics of the parties are what derail ASM from accomplishing much larger goals in the future.
Phil Ejercito was right to suggest that students need to unite. They need to unite together as conservatives, moderates and liberals to get things done for students. Only when the party system is scrapped, and the Unity and Badger Parties collapse, will ASM represent student interests.
Mike Dean graduated from the UW with a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations. He currently works for Common Cause in Washington, D.C. and is former chair of ASM.