As you begin your whirlwind adventure through the decentralized UW-Madison campus, you will be confronted with a litany of new acronyms. One of the most mysterious will be ASM. ASM, or the Associated Students of Madison, is the official student government at our great institution. Student government… of course you have heard of that. But ASM is very different from the consortium of popular kids tasked with running blood drives and planning homecoming events from your high school days. ASM is a convoluted multi-tiered behemoth with a multi-million dollar budget and popularity problem a lifetime subscription to Cosmo Girl could not solve.
For the optimists in the crowd, let’s start with the positives. ASM provides significant support for the 700 or so student organizations on this campus, ranging from grants for events and travel to office space. ASM funds services such as GUTS (Greater University Tutoring Services) and the Rape Crisis Center. And ASM will provide each and every one of you with a bus pass, so you and your new roommate can head to the mall to buy all those supplies you thought the other one was bringing.
On the other hand, low voter turnout has put the legitimacy of ASM elections on par with the Soviet Union. While speculation abounds to why a $7 million organization can only get single digit voter turnout, it is undisputable that most students are not interested in the day-to-day operations of their student government. I believe low student participation stems from two primary factors.
First, ASM fails to position itself in the intersection of student life. On a campus as large as this, there are countless different activities and organizations competing for the interest of students. Thus far, ASM leaders (including myself) have not been able to elevate the organization above the crowd. Rather, it remains undistinguishable from the multitude of other student organizations vying for student involvement.
Second, the few relevant activities ASM conducts are buried in mounds of negative press coverage. ASM has failed to provide a coherent narrative on what it does. This allows the rest of the student body, and in particular, the press, to dictate that narrative. ASM does not capitalize on its successes and loses student confidence with its failures.
Both of these factors are inseparably tied to ASM’s structure. Without a popularly elected president, ASM lacks any clear lines of authority or accountability. Furthermore, in a system that rewards tenure over skills and relationships over efficiency, ASM struggles to recruit the charismatic and thoughtful leaders necessary to bring the organization back to students.
But all is not dark. After a nadir in public opinion at the end of last semester, ASM began the long process of reestablishing a relevant student governance organization. The first major step was the election of Brittany Wiegand as chair of the organization. Although it took ASM almost two months to determine their chair, the selection of Wiegand signals a strong movement for reform. Wiegand was an integral part of movement pushing for large organizational overhauls at the end of last semester. Additionally, Wiegand’s in-depth organizational experience coupled with her skepticism of the status quo puts her in a key position to instigate change.
The second omen that things are getting better was the formation of the Constitutional Committee at the end of this past semester. This group, which I serve on, has been working to redefine how student government works on the UW campus. The eventual product of this group will be a new constitution, which will include a popularly elected executive and clearer lines of authority. While the final product remains to be seen, the simple fact that ASM has voluntarily created a committee to designed to revamp the current system in any recognizable form suggests that ASM is truly ready to address its problems.
While I cannot tell you in good faith all the problems of ASM shall be fixed in the coming year, I can outline some compelling premises. First, on a campus of 41,000 students and numerous conflicting interests, a relevant student government provides the best option to voice student concerns. It simply is not an option to allow a student government to remain irrelevant. Second, the recent steps taken by ASM signal a commitment to take the necessary steps to restore legitimacy.
The only hope for the future of student governance is to recruit the incoming talent. ASM will only succeed if it can reach out to you. With an understanding of this situation you can make the educated decision to either work with ASM by carrying the burden left by previous generations of students or become part of the fray and allow it to deteriorate further.
Alex Gallagher ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and political science and formerly served as the Student Services Finance Committee chair.
