No progress was made toward finding a leader to carry the ideas of reform that 14 elected members of ASM proposed April 20 at Tuesday's Associated Students of Madison meeting.
The momentum sparked by activism within ASM and the representatives of the 15th session languishes without anyone to take the reins and lead ASM into a summer devoted to change.
The future ASM chair needs to fully support the proposed reforms and be willing to wholeheartedly commit his or her summer and next school year to ensure ASM will achieve the proposals outlined in their five-point plan.
The chair must also be able to see the presidential system through, even if he or she is no longer chair. If a younger, pro-change representative steps up to chair ASM, it will reignite the movement to amend ASM's past failures and become a truly student-conscious and student-friendly government. The chair can model the role of a president and usher in an era that makes ASM elections salient - rather than irritating - to the student body.
The ad hoc committee charged with rewriting ASM's bylaws and constitution - which was formed Monday by the Constitutional Committee's Resolution - must be conscious there will be fewer students on campus during the summer. This means accountability for ASM's progress will be at an all-time low. The committee members must be critical and reasonable with each revision they make such that adopted changes do not unreasonably depart from the plans they set forth this spring.
Although it is not optimal that there will be a significantly lower student population when ASM votes on changes, summer is the ideal season for ASM members to intently focus on the task at hand.
With no finals and no papers, there can be no excuses if progress stagnates.
The committee's main priority is to rewrite bylaws and the ASM constitution to include a presidential system, but it has the ability to go beyond and implement changes that adhere to the mission of the 15th session, as presented in the April 20 reform agenda.
The Constitutional Commitee's Resolution has the potential and authority to create an entirely new student government, so it is imperative the members of the committee truly care about change that will positively affect the student body.
In the meantime, a leader must emerge to lend credibility and force to the 15th session's platform.
