Both veterans and newcomers will be welcomed into the ranks of the Associated Students of Madison Student Council and Student Services Finance Committee after the election’s results were released Wednesday night.
A number of current representatives were reelected and the Madison People Organizing for Wisconsin Education Rights had 10 of the 21 declared members on its slate elected to Student Council.
Current Student Council Chair Tyler Junger and SSFC Chair Brandon Williams were reelected to represent the college of Letters and Science, among 10 other representatives.
Junger said he has not ruled out running for a leadership position on Student Council, but he will not run for chair again.
“My GPA has suffered enough,” Junger said.
Andrea Nichols, current SSFC representative, got the most votes out of the 12 elected representatives from L&S, which had the most candidates running at 45.
MPOWER member Tina Trevino-Murphy, who was not elected to Student Council but acted as one of the lead organizers for the slate throughout the campaign, said there has not yet been formal discussion of which MPOWER member will run for chair.
“We’re really happy about the incredible voter turnout,” she said.
Beth Huang, a recently elected Student Council representative and member of the MPOWER slate, said while she acknowledged the importance of parliamentary procedure to the legislative process, something has to be done to streamline meetings to make sure there is more time to serve students.
She also said MPOWER will not disband after the elections, even though the whole slate was not elected.
“There will certainly be dialogue between members of ASM and those who have not been elected,” Huang said.
Fellow MPOWER member and recently elected Student Council representative Zach Ivins said he will bring his ability to listen to students to the table and continue MPOWER’s goals of affordability and campus safety.
Nichols and Nick Novak were elected to Student Services Finance Committee. While Nichols has served on SSFC, Novak is a newcomer to the committee.
Novak said he hopes to bring more transparency to SSFC than is currently there. He said he wants to get more students involved in order to know where their money is going.
Present SSFC Secretary Matt Manes was elected to Student Council through the College of Agriculture and Life Science. He said he hopes to be appointed to SSFC through council and continue his work on SSFC.
The officers for the senior class were also announced. Matt Beemsterboer, who will serve as president, said he wants to “shake things up a bit” with a class gift students will remember for years to come. He pointed to a green roof as a possible idea.
Student Election Commission Chair Noah Pearce said Student Judiciary has certified all the votes and any University of Wisconsin student can file a complaint with the Student Election Commission within two-to-five school days.
Full ASM results: https://badgerherald.com/news/2010/04/14/asm_ballot_results_.php
