UW-Madison students urged the Associated Students of Madison to be more active in reaching out to students at Disc(US)sion 2009, a town-hall-style forum hosted by ASM Wednesday.
""We need to outreach more, and tonight was an affirmation of that,"" ASM Chair Brittany Wiegand said.
Students at the forum reprimanded ASM for their passive presence on campus. They urged ASM to rely less on e-mails and to engage in direct conversations with constituents.
""There's pools of students in Memorial Union. You guys could be down there getting feedback,"" WISPIRG intern Jenna Ormson, who attended the discussion, said. ""Getting an e-mail is good, but when you're down there talking to someone it's really more effective.""
Ormson said students need to be better informed about ASM practices in order to hold their representatives accountable.
""What are [our representatives] going to do for us? I have no idea right now, and I guarantee you none of my friends do,"" Ormson said.
WISPIRG Chair Tony Uhl, who attended the discussion, said ASM should embrace forms of grassroots outreach to involve more students.
""They need more interns and volunteers,"" Uhl said. ""The representatives should exist to organize other people to get stuff done.""
Currently, ASM representatives chair grassroots campaigns by recruiting volunteers. These campaigns do not cap their numbers of volunteers.
Wiegand said they could benefit from including more students, but said it is hard to attract students because their issues are less compelling than other student organizations.
Uhl said ASM could find ways to make their activities more attractive. He said WISPIRG has increased its number of interns by learning the right way to reach out to students.
""Our issues haven't changed that much,"" Uhl said. ""We've gotten better with our recruitment drive … You can make just about anything sexy.""
Uhl suggested WISPIRG work with ASM to make the organization more successful in attracting students, possibly holding workshops to train students in communicating successfully.
""I've done what I can to create that relationship,"" Uhl said. ""I gave them my card. The ball's in their court. [ASM needs] to do more of these things.""
Wiegand said WISPIRG's help could be useful. ASM already engages in similar training, but only for recruitment drives.
""That's definitely something we could extend throughout the year,"" Wiegand said.
ASM members are required to spend at least five hours recruiting, but Wiegand said many do not fulfill the requirement.
She said there are consequences for not fulfilling the actions, but she was not sure what they were and they are not enforced.
