The student government will begin to unveil plans for the new Student Legal Services Center after Student Council endorsed the center and created a task force to work on the project during a meeting Wednesday.
The Student Legal Services Center would provide a variety of legal aid to students, ranging from basic legal advice to representation in court.
Associated Students of Madison finance Chair Matt Manes urged the council to pass this proposal at last week’s meeting, and reiterated his sense of urgency for the project this week.
ASM Chair Brandon Williams said many other big universities across the country have endorsed similar programs that have been very successful.
Williams said he has wanted to see a program like this put into motion for a long time.
“Creating a legal service program has been a goal of mine as chair all year long,” Williams said. “If we don’t complete it, I will consider my term a failure.”
The council approved the endorsement for the SLSC and discussed the development of the Special Tasks Group.
Manes said he wanted to set up a task force that would develop plans and a proposal for the SLSC, which would have to be submitted to the Chancellor Biddy Martin’s office in early spring.
Manes’ proposal for the group originally said six members would be chosen by chairmen, with three members from the student council and three members from SSFC.
Shared Governance Chair Kyle VandenLangenberg suggested amending the proposal to have the six members elected by the entire council rather than just chosen by the chairmen.
Williams said he supported the movement to amend because it would open up a channel for discussion about the project and give the entire council a chance to contribute.
The three student council members appointed to the group were Representative Tyler Junger, Rules Committee Chair Cale Plamann and Williams.
Members from SSFC will be chosen at a different time. Manes said he was pleased with the choices the council made and said he knows they would do a good job.
The council also discussed whether the chief justice of the student judiciary should be required to attend weekly council meetings.
Chief Justice Kathryn Fifield said it does not make sense for her to attend meetings since the Student Judiciary has no business getting involved in many of the student council’s affairs.
“By requiring the chief justice to be here each week, it presents the illusion that the chief justice is required to participate in all student council activity,” Fifield said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate”.
Chair Williams said he was hesitant about changing the attendance policy since in the past not having the chief justice present has caused a disconnection between the student judiciary and ASM.
Further discussion on the attendance requirement for the chief justice will be discussed next week.
The student council also decided to approve the amendment that would provide clarification to the term “recipient” in a bylaw about the General Student Services Fund eligibility process.
The council unanimously decided to pass the amendment and the GSSF recipient bylaw changes will take effect immediately.
