The Associated Students of Madison approved a resolution to ensure the consideration of students' opinions in the development of the Badger Partnership at their meeting Wednesday.
The Badger Partnership is Chancellor Biddy Martin's proposal for the university to gain more autonomy from the state.
The Resolution for a Democratic Badger Partnership states it will create a Badger Partnership Student Working Group to analyze the Badger Partnership proposal and work with administrators to make sure students' opinions are taken into account.
ASM Chair Brandon Williams, Student Services Finance Committee Secretary Jason Smathers and Shared Governance Chair Kyle VandenLangenberg will represent Student Council in the partnership. No more than seven more at large seats will be appointed through the Shared Governance Committee.
ASM Vice Chair Adam Johnson said this group will work closely with Dean of Students Lori Berquam and Governmental Relations Director Don Nelson to stay informed on the Badger Partnership.
""Once we finally figure everything out and the governor proposes his budget, then we will bring forth something to ASM and we'll have a vote on whether or not we support the Badger Partnership,"" he said.
Also at the meeting, the proposed Open Government Act was passed to Rules Committee.
This act states that if 500 students sign a petition for a change in ASM bylaws, one member of the petition will be granted the right to participate when the ASM debates the change.
Johnson said this would ensure the act is feasible and does not overlap with any other ASM bylaws.
Also at the meeting, ASM rejected Chief of Staff Tom Templeton and SSFC Representative Rae Lymer's nominations to the Rules Committee.
The student government rejected the nominations because the council wants students that are not already involved in student government to be on the committee.
The Rules Committee will hold open, informal discussions with students about the proposed Campus Services Fund.
Former ASM Secretary TJ Madsen stated the committee is an opportunity to give students outside ASM a vote, and the Nominations Board failed to do so by nominating current members of student government.
""We completely dropped the ball on the chance of getting these students involved,"" he said.
Nominations Committee will start over with the appointment process.
Additionally, the student government passed the Commencement Speaker Fund at the meeting.
This fund states that Student Council supports SSFC to create a $1 per student per year charge to pay for commencement speakers.
Currently, commencement speakers are not paid and are typically UW-Madison alumni who reside in the area.
