UW-Madison students and staff members offered comments and concerns about the first draft of the new constitution of the Associated Students of Madison during a listening session Wednesday.
The listening session was targeted toward student groups who apply for money from the General Student Service Fund through the ASM Student Services Finance Committee. Jeff Wright, chair of the Constitutional Committee, started the session by explaining the current ASM model.
The main purpose of the presentation is to get feedback from you, not only on specific elements on the draft constitution, but also in the ways that you see or would like to see SSFC or its equivalent changing in time,"" he said.
The changes in the constitution in this new draft include some in the branches of government. An elected president and vice president would head the executive branch. The president would be responsible for the executive actions and have veto power over senate actions. The senate in the new structure would set policy direction for the student government.
SSFC would remain the appropriation committee for GSSF, in addition to overseeing the allocation of space in the Student Activity Center.
A question and answer session followed the presentation, allowing students to voice their opinions and provide feedback to the ASM committee. The main concerns students discussed in the open forum related to the increase in power of SSFC and the relationship between student organizations and ASM.
UW-Madison junior Sean McMaster suggested the committee have a faculty or staff member in SSFC to contribute to the consistency of decisions and budgets.
""The basic conflict in the whole system is that ASM attempts to govern the student body by providing funding for groups and advocating [for] students, which are two contradictory principles, which bring conflict of interest,"" Natalia Washington, a UW-Madison sophomore, said.
Students offered ways to increase low voter turnout in ASM elections. UW-Madison senior Bradley Schmock suggested the possibility of incorporating a public financing portion in the student government to increase election turnout.
