Editor’s note: Sam Stevenson is running for Student Council as a member of MPOWER.
It’s warm; it’s raining; the flora is booming, and that means it must be time for everyone’s favorite springtime activity: ASM Spring Elections! Well, okay, that might be a slight overstatement, considering the usual percent turn-out on this campus of over 40,000 tends to be in the single digits.
The question one might ask is why the vast majority of students care so little about ASM that they regularly neglect to take five minutes over three days to vote online. Judging from ASM’s characteristic self-important banality, the problem likely rests less with an apathetic student body and more with the student government itself. This has been the generic narrative for ASM elections as long as I’ve been attending classes here, and this year is no different, with myriad aspiring student council representatives promising substantive change and a reinvigoration of student government.
A first glance it’s tempting to disregard the importance candidates and NatUp partisans are placing on next week’s election. But upon closer examination, this year’s ballot actually shows the potential for changes this campus hasn’t seen for at least several years. In fact, the spring elections might be the first major step the recession-era student body takes in defense of its education and the often tenuous finances that make it possible.
First, there is the NatUp campaign and its fervent opposition. An interest and even excitement for new facilities and a better place to buff up is certainly understandable, and NatUp proponents are hoping students leave it at that before casting their ballots next week. However, dig a little deeper and you will uncover a surreptitious attempt by administration officials to bilk the students for a capital building project of questionable importance.
Instead of investing in financial aid, more and better faculty and new academic facilities, we are being asked to voluntarily increase our tuition for 30 years for a project most of us will never use. In addition to feeling the guilt associated with making college less affordable for a dozen generations of students, we need to ask why the administration went to students first before pursuing any other funding options.
Do they really think we are so easily duped into self-flagellating ourselves with additional fees for projects meant more for campus glamour than educational fundamentals?
Speaking of educational fundamentals, the MPOWER slate, which announced itself shortly before spring break, has presented a comprehensive platform with more than a few proposals to bring some much needed relevance to ASM (Disclaimer: This writer is running for Student Council as part of M-POWER). By putting a diverse and energetic group of students on the ballot for Student Council and SSFC, the MPOWER slate is already poised to make student government more representative of our variegated campus.
The slate’s dedication to transparency and accountability should make student voters reasonably confident that with MPOWER, ASM leadership won’t partake in Machiavellian back-room dealing or trade student group funding assurances for political patronage. Additionally, the slate’s passion for affordability indicates that MPOWER reps would not allow state and administration officials to raise segregated fees to fill budget gaps as they did this past year in the absence of any substantive opposition from ASM leadership.
Regarding policy proposals, MPOWER has presented several practical ideas to make a UW education more accessible and safe. MPOWER members have been at the forefront of ASM’s textbook affordability campaign and would continue to pursue all avenues to lower prices and make books accessible through other means. Nearly half of all students have neglected to purchase a book because of cost, and despite ASM’s obsession with minor structural changes and other idiosyncratic trifles, student government could make strides on this issue with the right leadership.
By first working with faculty to release book lists well before the start of classes to allow time for students to find good deals on expensive texts, a well-organized effort to deal with textbook accessibility could institute a comprehensive book rental program, an expansion of the library class text reserve and a promotion of open-source, online class materials.
Addressing campus safety concerns, MPOWER has proposed returning funding to the SAFEride cab service for students. Reflecting on the success of similar programs at other campuses including UW-Milwaukee, responsible funding of the service would ensure that safe transportation home is convenient and available for all students.
Indeed, these are the sorts of issues that ASM should be spending time on. Instead what we have seen is an organization that works against GSSF groups instead of helping them comprehend and fulfill funding requirements. Rather than organizing students around important issues in higher education, ASM twiddles away its time vetting marketable names for the new Union South or revising bylaws 99 percent of students care nothing about. With any luck, this will start to change next week.
Between the NatUp tuition hike referendum and the passionate, competent folks from MPOWER, next week’s election is shaping up to be a good opportunity for this campus to take a much-needed stand in defense of our right to a quality, affordable and safe education.
Sam Stevenson ([email protected]) is a graduate student in public health.
