The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) is set to start the new year, according to its leaders. ASM is the student government for the student body at UW-Madison, and the group seeks to influence issues that involve almost any aspect of student life — whether they arise from the state Capitol, the university administration or students themselves.
Freshmen are likely to see ASM’s influence immediately upon arriving on campus, when they receive their bus passes for the semester — one of student government’s primary services.
Austin Evans, a 20-year old political science and economics major from Hartland, Wis., is the new the chairman of ASM for the 2003-04 academic year. He tells students that other than being the student government and having the power to provide grants to various groups, ASM works on legislative issues, directly lobbying state and local government as well as campus administration on behalf of UW students.
“The students have the right and ability to be a part of campus [decision making],” Evans said, adding that ASM gets students directly involved.
ASM functions in several ways. Lobbying for students is an important part of the group, Evans said. For example, until last year, UW-Madison did not have a 24-hour library. But, through lobbying the administration of the university and the library system, ASM was responsible for the opening of a 24-hour area in Memorial Library last year. This summer, ASM also lobbied successfully for 24-hour access to College Library.
There will be three key issues for ASM this year, according to Evans. First, the SEVIS fee imposed on international students this spring to cover costs of a federally mandated tracking system will prove a hotly contested issue. A second key issue will be the controversy surrounding construction of a power plant for the campus area, and how that power is distributed.
The third major issue, according to Evans, is generically lumped into a group of academic affairs. “We will deal with issues like curriculum and advising and try to expand our course- and professor-evaluation system,” he said.
One of ASM’s most powerful bodies is the Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC), which allocates funding to various student groups from a built-in part of all students’ tuition called segregated fees. A total of $292.35 per student per semester is directed toward this fund, and a board of the students’ peers then distributes a portion of these fees to eligible student groups.
“The [SSFC] makes budget decisions for organizations and groups that affect students in their everyday lives,” according to Aaron Werner, SSFC chair. He added that there are a few general requirements which groups must meet in order to receive seg-fee dollars.
“They must provide a unique programming service as a whole … [provide] services not provided other places by the University … and make a place for all students,” Werner said, adding that more specific rules are in place to ensure that money is given to legitimate groups.
The SSFC has been the subject of controversy in recent years. Last semester, a petition was circulated among students to give the students the right to “opt-out” of paying segregated fees, an issue later voted on and defeated by students. Additionally, chancellor John Wiley overturned a funding decision by SSFC involving a campus multicultural student group, marking the first time in nearly 10 years a chancellor has overturned an SSFC decision, Werner said. “99.9% of the time, our decisions go unchallenged,” he added.
ASM’s Finance Committee, which is responsible for internal allocations of funding, is chaired by Ben Hawke. “ASM may not be everyone’s cup of tea,” Hawke said, “but the least students should do is to look to get involved [on campus].”
