The Associated Students of Madison kicked off the New Year with an impressive decision to reject their own internal budget proposal. Crafted by ASM’s leadership and approved by the Student Service Finance Committee, the internal ASM budget hit a roadblock last Thursday when student-council members raised objections to expenditures.

Students should be concerned over the number of diversity liaisons and membership fees for Washington lobbying organization United States Students Association, as were student-council members. But while particular line items are cause for concern, members of the conference committee assigned to find a compromise should question the trend toward paid activism in ASM.

There are many members of ASM who commit a lot of time and energy to ASM and its causes. However, students need not provide financial compensation for such activities. Student government will survive, even if every committee chair isn’t compensated with thousands of dollars for his or her efforts. Not only will ASM survive, a government made driven by such altruistic intentions would have more credibility and effectiveness than our current system of “play and get paid.”

A volunteer-based student government would not become an elitist organization, as many ASM members already hold down part-time jobs. And if students find less time for ASM because of financial constraints, this is not necessarily a bad thing. When it comes to student government, less is more.

Fortunately for students and our student government, last week’s landmark meeting of an ASM conference committee showed that productive compromise is possible. In response to the student council’s rejection of five student organizations’ budgets, a first-of-its-kind conference committee met to hammer out the differences between the budgets passed by SSFC and cuts proposed by the student council.

It is a good thing the conference committee concept is making an effective debut, because it will be called back to the plate to resolve ASM’s behemoth of an internal budget in the coming weeks.

According to those close to the situation, it seems the conference committee has accomplished its goal. The proposed budgets allow student organizations to continue operations but also require increased efficiency and accountability. Both sides will need to swallow a little pride for these compromises to gain approval, but this is the telltale sign of a good compromise.