After months devoted to reform, the Associated Students of Madison took time to reflect on a year, for them, has been a painful one. Not only did the reform movement fail, but voter turnout remains low and the group is having trouble even filling its committees, as evidenced by the absence of a chair from Legislative Affairs.
Beyond the relative unconcern of some of its members, what plagues ASM is a fundamental organizational malaise. ASM committees are filled by members of the Student Council and ASM at-large who, in many cases, have little sincere motivation to see their groups succeed. In addition, these same committees are answerable to Student Council, a group of 30 or so individuals with differing interests and levels of concerns in the committees themselves. Given this climate of bureaucratic inefficiency we are not surprised the accomplishments listed off by ASM’s various committee leaders at a year-end press conference that encompassed all that is mediocre, from improving snow removal to, in the case of the Diversity Committee, essentially holding some meetings (although it should be noted the Diversity Committee had no members until this past February).
We recognize ASM’s organizational structure is fundamentally screwed. And we see little evidence to counteract our opinion that this will remain the state of affairs for some time; it is necessary to look for new means of continuing aspects of ASM’s essential functions.
One of these is lobbying. The Legislative Affairs committee — without a chair, clear organizational mission or license to lobby — is currently incapable of representing the interests of students at the state capital. However, we recognize this function as one of the most critical duties of any student government. Thus we are cautiously optimistic about the propositions of the Wisconsin Student Lobby, a group founded to fill the gap left by Legislative Affairs. With any luck Student Council will endorse the agenda of the WSL, transferring the bulk of lobbying responsibility to the group until ASM can recreate itself in a manner more conducive to competence. We ask that at least one member of ASM join their ranks for proper representation.
Additionally, it is feasible that members of Student Council will become involved with the WSL, ensuring the group retains a link to the majority of students while being able to independently represent the interests of students more capably than ASM has proven itself able to do. Legislative Affairs can perhaps focus more on city issues, working closely with local leaders and building experience to create a core of experienced leaders for a potential return to state lobbying in the future.
We believe that students need some form of representation at the capital, and as of late, ASM has failed to provide it. And until it proves it can create an agenda where results are not obscured by incompetence, we are looking with optimism to the actions of the WSL.
