The recent rejection of the proposed ASM constitution was nothing short of a failure for all students on campus. The Associated Students of Madison, which every UW student is a member of, lost this election.
I won't spend too much time complaining about how much our school needed (and still needs) the reforms of that constitution, but right now, ASM is a headless torso without the direction provided by a clear executive. A president would bring more visibility and accountability to our government. More students would run for office, and the actions of our elected classmates would be more visible. Increased accountability and involvement are the prescription for ASM's current ailments.
ASM Student Council had its hands tied in promoting the constitution, despite unanimously voting twice to approve the referendum. According to the current constitution, we could not lobby for or against ballot initiatives, so instead we focused on efforts to bring students to the polls.
The Student Elections Commission worked with the Outreach Committee on more get-out-the-vote efforts than in any recent election. However, both campaigns were difficult to run with the volunteers limited to a small pool of interested elected officials.
The 15 percent student turnout in the election was phenomenal, and is clearly attributed to the three campaigns: ""Yes"", ""No"", and the unbiased efforts I worked on and privately referred to as ""Vote Maybe."" By energizing 1,300 more students to vote than the constitutional proponents, the ""Vote No"" crowd deserves applause. They worked their butts off to make sure students kept our government the same.
My main concern with the ""Vote No"" reasoning was that it appeared to argue that the last 15 years of ASM were all rainbows and puppies. I would disagree. Even as a freshman, I know there is high demand for improvement in our government. If the ""grassroots"" structure we supposedly have is so great, why haven't outside groups utilized it for reasons other than getting money?
There was also a great deal of misinformation about presidential powers and student group funding propagated during this election. I blame no one but ASM itself for not doing even more to inform students about the constitution and fight the smear campaign. Our perfect plans were laid to waste by the perennial problem of insufficient student involvement and lack of volunteers.
Yes, we should have started campaigning earlier and yes, we should have tried harder to get more volunteers. However, exorbitant amounts of time were consumed crafting the constitution and by-laws while listening to student suggestions and making changes that pandered, disproportionately, to specific groups' demands. These groups then campaigned more against the writers of the constitution than the document itself.
ASM needs reform, no doubt, but this change is especially imperative because our government is necessary. ASM funds most Registered Student Organizations on campus, providing services and opportunities I do not want to see disappear. ASM appoints students to Shared Governance positions that place students on equal footing with UW administration.
Through state statute, all Wisconsin students get a seat at the table whenever administration makes decisions affecting student life. This makes ASM one of the most powerful student governments in the country. If we don't work harder to improve and expand our student government, we risk losing those vital services and rights.
Over the next few weeks, there will be plenty of reforms and by-law changes proposed to the current constitution on issues such as increased power for the Student Council chair and more accessible Student Council meetings. Both sides of the recent campaign agreed on a majority of the proposed constitution's reforms. Now we must work together to make some changes in a less radical manner than a brand new constitution.
My one hope is that you get involved: follow ASM in the news, run for office this spring and most importantly, vote. Let's quit watching and start doing. In the end, the world is run by those who show up.
Jamie Stark is a member of the Freshman Student Council and ASM. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
