Newly elected representatives of University of Wisconsin’s student government gathered for their first meeting of the 22nd session and elected leadership positions.
Running unopposed, former Finance Committee Chair Madison Laning, a UW junior, will succeed Genevieve Carter as next year’s Associated Students of Madison chair. She will take on the role as ASM’s leading voice during a time of impending financial hardship for UW.
Kyla Kaplan, former Sustainability Committee chair, will join Laning as vice chair next year along with Secretary Alexander Schultz, who is continuing in his same position.
Laning, who spent this year as Finance Committee chair, previously spent time as an intern for ASM’s Legislative Affairs Committee before taking on a leadership role.
“I didn’t think I’d be chair of ASM when I first started, but through the great experience and the mentoring I’ve had in this organization, I really want to spread that knowledge to people across campus and support everyone in the way I was supported through this organization,” Laning said.
Laning said next year she will focus her efforts on the shared governance implementation plan and furthering discussion around the diversity framework. She also said she will continue to roll-out the ASM funded food pantry and work to address student homelessness.
But with Gov. Scott Walker’s budget to be finalized this summer, Laning said her work as chair will begin right away. She said she plans to connect with student representatives who will be in Madison over the summer and maintain her strong relationship with administration.
Yet, Laning said some situations will call for pushing the envelope with UW’s leaders, especially with issues surrounding the budget.
Newly elected Shared Governance Chair Jessica Franco-Morales, whose chief responsibility is to appoint students to fill UW’s shared governance committees, had similar concerns regarding administration. She said when filling different campus wide committees with students becomes difficult, UW administration will often use this as an excuse to overlook the voice of students.
Next year, she said she will move forward with the shared governance implementation plan, which will determine who will be able to form and chair a shared governance committee.
UW administration’s commitment to shared governance previously came into question last year when UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank changed the Shared Governance Committee of Labor Codes and Licensing Compliance to advisory status after it recommended UW cut ties with JanSport.
Franco-Morales said one of her biggest focuses will be to assure the language of shared governance is kept intact if the UW System shifts to a public authority model under Walker’s biennial budget proposal.
Elected Diversity Commitee Chair Mariam Coker said she wanted the position because students of color are not a part of campus culture.
“I want to make sure University of Wisconsin students are as progressive as they are known to be,” Coker said.
In addition, ASM elected Matt Walczack as Nominations Board chair, Carmen Gosey as Legislative Affairs chair, Angelito Tenorio as University Affairs chair, Gary Baker as Rules Committee chair and Siddharth Pandley as Press Office director.
ASM will continue elections at their Tuesday meeting at 6:30 in the Student Activities Center.
