Continuing last year’s trend, the 2002-2003 Associated Students of Madison representatives have failed to make their presence known on campus since being elected last April. Hiding in the shadows is no way to educate oneself on issues, nor to hear and project the student voice–ASM’s primary role.
Just one ASM staff member showed up to represent council at the four candidate screenings for the new dean of students. And as the university’s wrangling with downtown bar owners escalated this summer, ASM representation at the campus-hosted ALRC forum was similarly sparse.
Where is ASM?
Throwing the classic conception of representative student government out the window.
Growing weaker by the year since its overhaul in 1995 (when the name ASM was conceived), Chancellor John Wiley called upon our student government last year to make its presence known. Other student groups followed through on Wiley’s request by showing up the supposed leaders.
Certainly, some slack is due; even student leaders should be able to venture from scholarly duties for the summer. However, the rope should be towed and tightly drawn as classes resume and as poignant campus climate issues are at stake.
The Multicultural Student Coalition is gradually becoming one of the most visible student organizations in the state, and this year will prove no exception. The group’s presence at the four recent dean of students screenings demonstrated its strength, and simultaneously showed ASM’s failings. Groups like the Panhellenic Council, which admittedly caters only to a portion of the student body, are becoming more representative than our elected delegates.
This is not to say ASM is powerless. In fact, the door is open.
We challenge the student government, in this time of a sweeping change in its leadership, to fulfill its own mission. Following through on last year’s campaign promises to resist city drink specials bans and to lobby for student issues is the first step. Next is rebuilding the trust of students.
The governing bodies that preceded the Associated Students of Madison all imploded after several years, demonstrating that ASM is likely to come to its own apocalypse if it does not make efforts to clean up its unresponsive and holed-in image. Ignoring drink-special ban hearings and making only sparse contact with administrators is not the way to stay strong. It’s the way to find another “Dissolve ASM” party on the ballot next semester.
In the midst of a budget crunch and administrative turnover and–most importantly–on a campus with a short fuse on minority issues, leadership is needed.
