Only seven percent of the student body showed up to vote in last Wednesday’s campus wide Associated Students of Madison election to elect student representatives — many of whom can get partial to full tuition remission if appointed to leadership positions.
With 19 ASM members receiving a tuition stipend of some kind, according to the ASM internal budget, elections not only allow the student body to choose its representatives, but allocate where a portion of their segregated fee dollars go as well.
The chair, vice chair, student services finance committee chair and the student judiciary chief justice positions all receive over half of their year’s tuition in a university stipend, according to the ASM bylaws.
Chair: $10,593
According to current Chair Genevieve Carter, her role deals heavily with internal relations at the university. She said she deals mainly with communicating to administrators and student employees as well as handling the internal budget.
Carter said her internal role makes her the touch-point for a lot of ASM’s interns as well, making sure they are staying on track with campaigns.
If Carter takes her full stipend each month, she receives 100 percent of in-state tuition, or the equivalent of that, spread out over the course of the year.
“I would say I easily work 50 hours a week, if not more,” Carter said. “It’s one of those things where you never really stop working.”
Vice Chair: $8,475
Vice Chair Derek Field said his primary role is to assist and support the committee chairs. He tends to handle more external affairs, he said. For example, Field is responsible for maintaining ASM’s relationships with student governments at other UW campuses and with national organizations, like the United States Student Association.
Field also manages the travel portion of ASM’s internal budget, he said. This budget allocates funding for attending conferences or going to Board of Regent’s meetings, he said.
He works an average 40 hours a week, but it can be substantially higher than that during busy weeks, he said. According to the ASM constitution, Field receives a stipend of 80 percent of state tuition.
Student Services Finance Committee Chair: $9,370
According to Student Services Finance Committee Chair Devon Maier, he is in charge of the allocation of student segregated fees on campus.
“We helped raise around $45 million this year to groups like the Wisconsin Union, University Health Services, Rec Sports, ASM budget and student transportation,” Maier said.
He also does a lot of management work with leaders from those organizations to make sure things run smoothly, he said.
Maier said he works 15 to 20 hours per week and receives a stipend of 90 percent of tuition that is divided monthly.
Student Judiciary Chief Justice: $6,766
Adam Wald is the current student judiciary chief justice. The Student Judiciary hears and decides cases regarding the appropriation of funds, election complaints, complaints about a Registered Student Organization or any general disagreements arising under ASM laws.
According to the ASM constitution, the chief justice receives a monthly stipend valued at 65 percent of state tuition.
ASM will host elections for next semester’s leadership positions later this spring. The new leadership positions will be decided by May 1.