Associated Students of Madison ignited concerns of their ability to maintain an active role on campus after passing a negligible amount of legislation after seven weeks in session.
However, the reason for
“We, as students, don’t have much leverage when it comes to trying to get things to change,” Vice Chair Yogev Ben-
At the start of the semester, two prominent bills were introduced — an “Ice Cream for All” campaign and inclusive window signage.
“Ice Cream for All,” a campaign to guarantee inclusive options for all consumers of Babcock ice cream, ignited nationwide concern for Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and vegetarian individuals that are unable to enjoy it without violating their beliefs.
Because of the beef gelatin and lack of signage, Babcock ice cream proved to not be as inclusive as it appeared. Despite efforts to offer plant stabilizers in some of their flavors, the gelatin remained in 19 of the 25 total flavors in order to preserve the taste of the dessert.
“I, personally, would rather have all our students feel included and have the taste like Chocolate Shoppe ice cream than to have the exact same thing that it is now and not have everyone be able to eat it,” Ben-
After
However, the decision to reject the bill is a hopeful one.
Throughout the last few weeks, Ben-Yitschak and Representative Jared Lang led productive conversations with dining hall faculty and Babcock dairy representatives.
They had four goals: labeling all the flavors, making all premium flavors available for catering, to have more premium flavors on rotation at the Unions and in dining halls and to make all new flavors premium.
Both Babcock and the dining halls agreed to address all their concerns, notably developing a project with graduate students to provide a substitute for beef gelatin that wouldn’t disturb the taste or texture.
“We got almost everything we asked for,” Ben-
The second bill discussed was the Black Lives Matter sign, which was taken down over the summer for maintenance after the 23rd session put up the sign as a reflection of the student government’s solidarity with minorities both on and off campus.
The following session left the sign up throughout the year, but as it grew tattered and ripped they decided to replace it.
“There has to be a written rule if we want to post something in the glass,” Equity and Inclusion Chair Agalia Ardyasa said. “The initial legislation of Black Lives Matter needs to be
The sign was not met without backlash, as College Republicans Chairman Charlie Mueth voiced his concerns on the exclusivity of the sign towards one minority group, instead of all.
“ASM is at it’s best when it is supporting all [student] interests rather than just picking and choosing a couple of them,” he said. “So, why is ASM putting up a sign with just one of the interests instead of a bunch of signs with them?”
Much of the concern surrounding the sign was not on the message, but the decision to put up the original sign without
After deliberation among representatives, they came to the consensus that legislation regarding current and future signage needed to be drafted in order to facilitate discussion on any sign they could put up.
This bill was also postponed indefinitely. But, Ardyasa is already drafting new legislation alongside Representative Paul Jackson II to be considered later in the session.
Ardyasa saw this as an opportunity to put up a sign that will allow all representatives to be included in the decision and be most influential on the community.
“As you can see there’s not very much representation in ASM and I feel like putting it down would get rid of that tension between ASM and the community,” Ardyasa said. “And that’s not one thing that I would like to see as the chair this year.”
The upcoming student council meeting takes place in two weeks.
