The Associated Students of Madison's Shared Governance Committee launched a blog Monday aiming to inform its committee members, as well as students, about important campus and city issues.
Shared Governance Committee Chair Jeff Wright said the committee is made up of over 50 smaller committees, with representatives on the athletic board, health care advisory board, residence hall advisory board and many more across campus.
Every committee has individual issues that they take up,"" Wright said. ""Some are more interesting than others, some are more pressing and some require more student input, thought and discussion.""
Wright said that the blog began as a way for committee members to keep track of the 120 students on their peer's committees, while also providing a forum to comment on issues.
""It will probably be good for campus communities who already think that ASM sometimes isn't as transparent,"" Samantha Ziesemer, an ASM Student Council member said at a Shared Governance Committee meeting Tuesday night.
Danny Spirn, a UW-Madison senior who maintains an independent blog addressing student issues on campus, said he thought the blog would help him and other students understand ASM issues if ASM takes ""the active step"" to promote it.
According to Spirn, the undeniable growth of blogging in the last two years has made it a campus phenomenon that is here to stay, adding that blogs have also become important elements in political campaigns.
""I see blogging as a 21st century form of activism,"" he said. ""People have found it a fun place to talk about campus affairs and city of Madison issues.""
Spirn said he sees the blog as ""a good first step"" because it enables ordinary students to lead discussions on what their organization is doing from the comfort of their own dorms or homes.
Wright said committee members are the only ones able to post on the blog, but encouraged anyone in the UW-Madison community to comment on posts.
Although the blog may change in the future depending on the student response, ""the trial period will really be next semester,"" Wright said.
He said in order to encourage student participation in campus affairs and ASM initiatives, ""we felt that having a blog would be a step in the right direction.""
