In an attempt to involve a larger number of students in city governance, the Associated Students of Madison has initiated a campaign to include students as appointed members of certain Madison city committees.
'Students make up a decent part of the Madison population and city decisions affect our lives. So we feel students should be involved in the city level,' Shared Governance Chair UW-Madison sophomore Bryan Gadow said in a statement Monday.
The ASM Shared Governance committee is accepting applications from interested students. The deadline for the completed forms is Nov. 2.
Despite representing nearly 20 percent of Madison's population, UW-Madison students have a disproportionally low number of seats on city committees, according to UW-Madison freshman volunteer for Shared Governance Catherine Giljohann.
Expanding student involvement in city policy efforts was a top agenda item for ASM, she said.
'This was one of our first issues we wanted to advocate when the school year started,' she said.
But some current city committee members have expressed reservations about student input.
'I would have some reservation on students sitting on committees that have little input on downtown,' said Ald. Santiago Rosas, District 17. '[The committee] has to deal with the downtown issues and college-related issues.'
For example, the Affirmative Action committee would not be relevant to most students, according to Rosas, who said students should try to work through the university if they're interested in the issue.
'[The committee] wouldn't have any relevance because it deals with employment through the city,' he said.
Giljohann said the campus deserves a say even on city committees that are not directly relevant to downtown, as the university represents more than 40,000 city constituents.
'I feel it's very important for students to sit on committees'we need to have a voice,' she said. 'I think students have a lot of power and have great ideas.'
According to David Phillips, chair of the city's Economic Development committee, the difficulty is not student input in his committee, but whether the student can speak for the diverse campus climate.
'The university represents a very important part of the economic development of the city,' he said. 'I think it's a real challenge to represent the university community.'
Phillips added that establishing student positions on city committees is only one way of generating student contribution in city affairs.
'There's an opportunity at every committee meeting to have input,' he said.
