In a January interview with The Badger Herald editorial board, Chancellor John Wiley gave a warning to ASM leaders — while they may win the battle for outrageous seg fee increases, they could lose the war during the spring elections.
Prophet, er, Chancellor Wiley was right — a record number of students voted in last week’s elections, and an unprecedented number of students committed to fiscal responsibility will sit on next year’s student council.
The only council with a better ratio of (potentially) fiscally responsible students was the 2000-2001 edition, after the entire UNITY slate (grandfather of REACH) was kicked off ASM for illegal election activity. That year was one of the most productive in ASM’s brief history; multiple campaigns accomplished realistic goals, and seg fees barely increased.
We hope next year’s council will do the same — asking them to improve on this year would be setting the bar below the ground.
ASM’s first priority must be reigning in out-of-control seg fee budgets. While MCSC-DES’s million-dollar budget got most of the attention, three other groups received increases of more than 150 percent, and many more increased more than 50 percent. The result was a near doubling of allocable seg fees, meaning higher tuition for everyone.
Secondly, ASM must commit itself to effectively representing students. This year ASM not only raised its portion of tuition, but also complained about the 8 percent cap on in-state tuition.
The result is student concerns about the quality of their education are being completely ignored in the current budget debate — even the Democrat-controlled Senate refused to hold listening sessions when students were in school. On the city level, ASM should make its presence felt on essential student concerns like State Street and downtown drinking, another area where this year’s ASM was sorely lacking.
Finally, ASM needs to develop a realistic and coherent agenda, targeting day-to-day issues that affect students. While it is too late for parking, tenant rights (including a landlord database), peer advising and a 24-hour library would be good places to start.
Student government can be an important asset to students. Or it can merely tax and serve special interests. After experiencing the latter, we hope next year’s ASM pursues the former.
