Welcome to a new and exciting school year here at UW-Madison! While students are struggling to get used to their class schedules, meeting up with old friends and making new ones, student government leaders and activists are preparing for an extremely important year.

Due to the current state budget crisis, which has adversely affected students by hiking out of state tuition last spring, the Sept. 10 primary and Nov. 5 general elections will prove to be some of the most important in recent state history. Although the legislature created partial solutions to the budget problems, the next round of budget discussions might focus on significantly raising in-state tuition to address the projected $1.2 to $2.4 billion budget deficit. Thus, it is imperative that students exercise their right to vote and make a statement that balancing the state budget problems is the responsibility of the officials we elect into office, not UW System students.

Mobilizing students to vote or lobby their elected officials on issues about which they are concerned or even speak to administrators about their views on campus policies may seem like a daunting task. The Associated Students of Madison student government works to ensure students have the opportunity to become integral players in decisions that affect their lives. For example, many students left Madison last semester unsure if drink specials would continue to exist at their favorite bars, setting up safety concerns with a possible increase in overcrowded and unsupervised house parties.

A study by a former UW student revealed that one in eight females on this campus will be sexually assaulted during their academic careers here in Madison. The issue of sexual assault clearly ties into discussions and debates over the merits of a drink-special ban, and it is essential that students become aware of how the city’s decision on the drink-special ban might impact campus safety. ASM will work to provide students with an opportunity to become involved in this decision, by organizing students to attend City Council meetings in order to speak from a student perspective on this issue.

However, drink specials are not the only alcohol-related issue that will be of importance to students this year. Chancellor Wiley has committed to make researching more non-alcoholic alternatives a priority for the UW administration and to combat the binge-drinking culture on campus. It is important for students to become involved with this search to provide an atmosphere where students do not feel that alcohol dominates their campus culture.

It is also important to note that alcohol is not the only issue that impacts on our campus climate, as the university community must continue to address this issue, so that all students may feel welcome as members of the student body. It is important for programs such as Speak Up harassment reporting and Plan 2008 to be supported both by students and the administration.

The Speak Up harassment-reporting program is being examined by students, the ASM Diversity committee and the dean of students office to ensure students who have experienced hate crimes have the means to protect their privacy when reporting incidents of harassment. Plan 2008 is the university’s strategic diversity plan and ASM is currently working to implement a set of exit interviews for students who leave the university in hopes of better understanding what UW needs to improve upon.

I would also like to address a recent editorial in The Badger Herald, in which a challenge was presented to ASM to follow through on our promises and deliver the “goods” to the student body. To this I say, we accept. And while I applaud and thank the Herald for continuing to hold ASM accountable to the students, I also ask that it does not stop with a few editorials, however critical they may be. I ask instead that students work with ASM on the issues they care about. For it is one thing for a person to say change is needed, but I believe the greater challenge and reward comes when one becomes part of it.

Talk to your student representative (yes, I know that some of you did not vote in the student government elections, but you still have representatives that work for you and other students in these issues), or better yet stop up to the ASM office in 511 Memorial Union to find out how you can be a part of the student movement for change on this campus. If we are so convinced that students don’t have a voice in such a large university, why don’t we change that by getting involved in issues that we care about?

Bryan Gadow is chair of Associated Students of Madison.