Associated Students of Madison Student Council chair Austin Evans successfully petitioned the city of Madison for a restraining order against Joseph Hiegel, a former student heavily involved with University of Wisconsin’s student government, Dec. 15, 2003.

According to sources close to The Badger Herald, Evans and Hiegel were “at odds with each other” over conflicts pertaining to ASM.

Hiegel sued Evans in Student Judiciary more than once. Evans pursued a ‘no contact’ order through the UW Dean of Students office during the fall semester of 2003. Hiegel did not adhere to the order and came to a Student Council meeting where Evans was present, prompting Evans to ask county officials to grant a restraining order.

UW sophomore Kristen Berman did not see the importance in such an issue to students.

“I personally don’t think it really effects how student government appears to students,” Berman said.

Evans agreed.

“I really don’t think this is an issue that should be in the papers,” Evans said in a phone interview. “This is where my public life ends and my personal life begins.” Evans said he was the victim of repeated harrassment by Hiegel and that the issue is “complex.”

Hiegel could not be reached for comment.

This incident is only one of the infighting and problems plaguing ASM. Since the fall, 10 vacancies have been produced in Student Council, according to Student Council member Brian Jenks. Jenks, who hinted he could be leaving his post as a Student Council representative at an upcoming meeting, did not mean to implicate shortcomings by his fellow ASMers.

“I just don’t think they understand the commitment,” Jenks said.

Student Council meetings of recent weeks occasionally have not brought enough members to meet quorum.

For the other representatives voted on to present student views to the council, and to be a mouthpiece to UW administration, UW sophomore Natalie Zitnak said students might be getting “fed up with it” and think it is time for a change.

Zitnak found that these incidents could be part of a larger problem within the ASM organization.

“Getting elected as a student official results in a call for some sort of professionalism,” Zitnak said, though Hiegel was not elected to ASM this past semester and is currently not enrolled in classes. Zitnak indicated that if one works with someone every day and dislikes the person, such disagreements do not often necessitate a restraining order, especially in the professional world.

Zitnak, a student who gives casual attention to student government, made sure to point out that she did not know the details of the Hiegel/Evans case. However, she said student resources could best be used on other things and that these two students should have other agendas on their mind during student-government proceedings.

As for Berman, she hesitated in saying if she thought today’s ASM could adequately represent the views of UW students to university administrators.

“I really can’t speak for the regents or the chancellor, but I can’t imagine this would look good,” she said.