UW-Madison students and faculty members offered thoughts and concerns about the newly drafted Associated Students of Madison constitution during an open information session Wednesday at Memorial Union.
Jeffrey Wright, chair of the Constitutional Committee, started the meeting by explaining the state of the current ASM government structure, the areas ASM succeeds in and the main problems of the organization.
We are not here to tell you that you should like the draft structure '¦ this isn't a session to sell this to you in any shape or form,"" he said.
Wright said current problems facing student government were the inability to communicate with students in a coordinated way, the inability to respond to individual events in a quick manner, ambiguity of the accountability line and the low student input.
Major changes to ASM's structure include establishing clear governing lines between the executive and legislative branches through the creation of a student body president and making a student senate.
A question and answer section followed the presentation, giving UW-Madison students and faculty the opportunity to ask questions about the proposed structure and voice their concerns.
UW-Madison sophomore Tina Trevino-Murphy said she thought there were some positive changes to the structure of ASM that have big potential. Other students said they still have concerns.
""Overall I like it, but I think that caution must be taken with the transition of a more executive position,"" said UW-Madison junior Sean McMaster.
Johnny Tackett, an ASM Constitutional Committee member, said he was satisfied with the session turnout.
""I think it was a good start '¦ there were some people [that came] to become informed and others that had already studied the draft and gave us great feedback,"" Tackett said.
McMaster said he thought ASM members answered most student questions well in the open forum.
""I definitely think they answered [my questions] as much as possible,"" he said. ""I just hope they take those questions and comments into consideration before the next draft.""
