Like other weeks in past Aprils, UW-Madison students have the opportunity to elect their student government representatives this week. And like those weeks, student turnout is expected to be poor.
Students, however, should reassess the importance of their vote in the Associated Students of Madison race.
With the low turnout, each student's vote is material in the outcome of the races. Furthermore, ASM wields the power to distribute millions of dollars in funds and raise segregated fees, which come directly out of the collective student pocket.
That said, students who care about issues like seg-fee distribution, linking financial aid increases to tuition increases and 24-hour access to campus libraries'all of which are campaign issues this election season'are strongly encouraged to take notice of the candidates and their views.
Clearly, the more liberal slate, Real Educational Access Can Happen constitutes a significant proportion of this year's government body, which has had its successes and failures. The Badger Party, which hopes to make substantial cuts to seg fees, though, only offers an opposite extreme. But rather than evaluate these candidate slates, we recommend voters review each representative's record and let them speak for themselves.
Furthermore, we advise students to evaluate every candidate on an individual basis.
The most important issues in this week's election include:
Reasonable seg-fee growth. This year's session of the Student Services Finance Committee was marked by excessive seg-fee increases. We encourage representatives to take neither the spending nor cutting extreme when dealing with seg fees. Slashing funds to organizations that spend efficiently will only hurt worthwhile student groups. However, irresponsible funding of student orgs only hurts students financially.
Lobbying on behalf of student interests. Students of varying ideologies have campaigned on issues dear to students' hearts'among them, tenants' rights, links between financial aid and tuition increases, fighting state-level budget cuts to the university and improving student advising. While ASM's lobbying success varies greatly, laboring on behalf of student concerns should be among representatives' first duties as a representative body. For example, increased student activism on the subject of drinking concerns can only help improve awareness of the problem and the pursuit of a solution.
Other important student considerations at stake in this year's election include increasing campus safety through expansion of the SAFEpark and maintenance of the SAFEwalk and SAFEride programs. Additionally, students will benefit from the continuance of the student bus-pass program, especially since its expansion to include the L-line and a summer pass. A 24-hour library could further help students academically by providing a proper studying and social venue at all hours of the night.
Take the time to vote this week, and reap the benefits of representatives who truly represent the campus body.
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