In its \Need to Know"" press conference Wednesday, Associated Students of Madison announced goals for campus diversity, Halloween safety and shared governance.
Halloween safety was the most immediate of the aforementioned topics, as ASM touted several initiatives to curb the possibility of riots erupting this year.
Despite the raucous atmosphere of previous Halloweens, ASM is hopeful later closing hours for restaurants, extra lighting and restroom facilities on State Street and family friendly entertainment will reduce the likelihood of disturbances erupting on the scale of the past two years.
""While we realize it may take time for the possibility of riots to completely dissipate, we are confident that we are taking steps in the right direction, and ensuring that Halloween will always remain a part of this community,"" said UW-Madison sophomore and Halloween 2004 Committee Chair Kristina Mueller.
The second topic addressed was diversity in the UW-Madison community. Diversity committee intern Bradley Schmock, a UW-Madison freshman, described a few ""research projects"" the Diversity Committee is engaged in, including the possible addition of LGBT safe floors in residential housing and unisex bathrooms in the unions.
""Our goal is to find ways to make this campus more inclusive for every student,"" Schmock said.
Schmock also detailed other committee plans, including a Campus DJ Battle/Step Show for Charity, Shadow Day, in which ""students of diversity"" are encouraged to tour the campus, and Building Unity, a social justice conference hosted by UW-Madison in March.
Finally, UW-Madison sophomore and Shared Governance Committee Chair Eyal Halamish urged students to exercise their legal ""power to govern themselves.""
""One of my biggest qualms with this campus is that the student body is too cynical. We have forgotten the many freedoms and powers we hold at this fine liberal institution,"" Halamish said.
""We have the power to meet with our administration and our city council and set the student agenda straight,"" He added.
Halamish also covered the Shared Governance Week of Action, a program introduced last year in which five meetings will be held over five days, each one examining a particular student issue. A different administrator will be in attendance at each meeting to explain the administration's handling of each issue and take questions from students.
Last year, the meetings examined athletics, transportation, parking, Halloween, budgets and student rights. According to Halamish, this year's issues will range from athletic ticket distribution to class cuts.
ASM additionally plans to reckon with budget cuts through the production of a video in which students will be interviewed, according to ASM Chair Emily McWiliams. The video will give the audience a sense of student identity as well as an idea of what they want out of UW-Madison, McWilliams said.
