United States Student Association Vice President Alexandra Flores-Quilty welcomed the Associated Students of Madison as a member of the student advocacy organization Wednesday.
The USSA is the oldest and largest student organization in the country, according to their website. Originally called the National Student Association, the USSA held its first Constitutional Convention at UW-Madison in 1947.
“USSA is a nationally run, student led, student run organization that works on student issues around higher education, access and affordability,” Flores-Quilty said.
Last fall, ASM decided to terminate its membership from the organization due to a possible link to partisan issues, such as abortion and military involvement. Toward the end of the last ASM session, the USSA requested for a reassessment of ASM’s membership.
Student council decided to return to USSA only if the organization disassociated itself from previous issues that caused ASM to withdraw its membership.
Over the summer, 11 UW-Madison representative went to the USSA conference, where delegates discussed possible campaigns for the organization. USSA decided to focus on sexual assault and prevention as well as college access and affordability.
USSA is currently trying to come in contact with organizations that can help advance their sexual assault and prevention campaign. According to Flores-Quilty, the White House is currently asking for support from USSA on its sexual assault campaign.
“We are definitely consulting people whose sole mission is this issue to make sure that we are working in collaboration with them,” Flores-Quilty said.
ASM Vice Chair Derek Field said he hopes the relationship between student council and USSA continues to improve.
“I have been doing a lot of work with the congress and delegates,” Field said. “We are just prepping for the rest of the year in terms of our relationship with USSA.”
Student council also discussed some of the committee’s new campaigns and ideas for the new academic year such as its Voter Registration Campaign. Legislative Affairs Chair Tom Gierok said the hope is for 5,000 students to register to vote.
“It’s great to see students engaging in their civic duty and strengthening the student voice on higher education issues,” Gierok said.
