Celebrated football players scrimmaging in the sun, nationally recognized scholars making last-minute adjustments to syllabi, world-renowned researchers preparing for the return of dozens of lab assistants. It is undoubtedly fall at UW-Madison.
As the biggest freshman class in UW history settles into the dorms, four years as bright as a September afternoon on the Union Terrace await many of them. But being able to paint this positive picture does not mean we should settle back into a year of inactivity and apathy.
The number of students of color at UW remains astonishingly low, even with the university’s ten-year plan for increased diversity approaching its halfway mark. Binge-drinking on campus remains alarmingly high, even with attempts by administrators and police to crack down on underage drinkers. Advising stories are often more terrifying than midnight ghost stories at Picnic Point, while important decisions about student life are being made without much student input. And by the time the freshman class graduates, it is estimated that one in four of its women will have been sexually assaulted on campus.
It’s time for the fall semester to begin, and that means it is time for students to take an active role in their lives on campus.
The Associated Students of Madison is your student government. We fight for lower tuition, publish course and instructor evaluations, provide bus passes and last year registered thousands of students to vote. I do not doubt that ASM will be featured in the newspapers throughout the school year, but often the focus will be on our student council or our financial committees and not on what is most important – our campaigns, organized and run by student interns and volunteers.
ASM works each year to make sure that lawmakers and administrators not only hear students’ voices, but also really listen to them. Last year we worked to turn high voter turnout in the fall into power at the state Capitol on the budget in the spring. While we were not as successful as we would have liked, we made good contacts and formed strong coalitions, resources we hope to use this year as we work on several key student issues.
In coalition with other student groups, we will hold the university accountable to its own diversity plan, increasing the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students. We will continue to strive to improve advising on campus, working towards better training for advisors and establishing a peer advising program. Using our electoral power on the City Council and working with various groups on campus, we will continue to raise awareness about sexual assault while working to improve overall campus safety. Working with Memorial Union and other student organizations, we hope to increase the number of alcohol alternative events that are comparable to a Thursday or Friday night out.
We will continue to work with University Health Services, the Student Organization Office and many registered student organizations to plan and ensure the building of a new UHS/Student Activity Center, which will provide better medical services and more meeting space for students in a central location. Early in the year, we will make sure that there are students sitting on every campus committee that makes decisions regarding student life, and throughout the year we will ensure that students are awarded their right, per Wisconsin state law, to have a seat on any such committee.
As the semester gets underway, common areas and classrooms will see an influx of concerned students wielding postcards and clipboards. They’ll be asking for your signature, your interest and your time. I will be one of them, and I ask you not to divert your eyes and walk past me. We, as students, have a lot going for us at UW, but we still have a long way to go. No matter where you are from, what you are majoring in or who you are, these are all issues that will affect you because these are all issues that affect students. ASM is only as successful as we make it, and being involved can take as little or as much time as you want. This is an out-of-classroom experience that allows you to make a difference on issues that matter to you. It is your education – make the most of it.
Getting involved is as easy as filling out a gold interest card, stopping by our office at 511 Memorial Union or coming to our kickoff on September 25. The summer sun still shines warmly on State Street and the grass on Bascom Hill still beckons gently, but the semester is starting. It’s time to get involved in your university.
