UW-Madison's Associated Students of Madison kicked off the 2006-'07 academic year to a packed Humanities lecture hall Wednesday. While UW-Madison's student council members placed much emphasis on moving forward, the focus remained on directing attention toward student-related campus issues.
ASM chair and UW-Madison senior Dylan Rath said ASM will focus on campus safety and the Vote 2006 initiative designed to inform students of issues and candidates on the Nov. 7 ballot for the fall 2006 semester.
There will also be re-campaigning for Memorial Union renovation and a living wage for all university workers this semester. Last spring, so many students voted online for these referenda that a paper ballot became necessary because of a DoIT system crash. This led to a significant decline in voter turnout and mistakes in tallying.
""I definitely think [paper ballots] will affect the voting process—it's a huge difference to go out to one of the four voting stations than to just vote online,"" said UW-Madison junior and ASM Administration Liaison Stephanie Biese of the paper ballots to be utilized for this fall's election. ""This doesn't make it any less important though, and students should still vote and make their voices heard.""
Entertainment was the key approach to Wednesday's meeting. The kickoff consisted of ASM members performing skits about each committee in order to inform potential members about the individual responsibilities each serves.
While shared governance stressed the large amount of spots to fill on many committees, Student Council informed a freshmen-dominated crowd of the representative seats open to them. UW-Madison freshman Sarah Koeppen is hoping to earn one of these seats.
""ASM's presentation was really energetic,"" Koeppen said. ""I'm planning to run for student council—Vote for me!""
However, Katie VanGheem, another UW-Madison freshman, said she did not plan on running.
Also announced was the extended deadline for seats on the ASM Finance Committee and Student Services Finance Committee.
""Every year we elect new fall officials for SSFC, and we are looking for people to apply for Finance,"" said Rath.
More information on ASM can be found at http://www.asm.wisc.edu.
