Though the school year has just started, the Associated Students of Madison is already hard at work reaching out to and advocating for students across campus, according to Chair Carmen Goséy. Here are four of their initiatives to track throughout the semester.
1. Push for voter registration
Many students will head to the polls Nov. 8 ready to cast a vote in their first general presidential election.
ASM has registered more than 500 students to vote since Aug. 29, and Goséy said the organization hopes to reach its goal of 5,000 students registered by the election.
In addition to voter registration, which Vote Coordinator Billy Welsh explained can only take place through Oct. 19, ASM will continue to host voter awareness events detailing what to bring to the polls. During the registration process, Welsh added, students can use their bus passes as proof of residency.
2. Biennial budget expectations
Following the 2015-2017 state biennial budget, the UW System absorbed roughly $250 million in cuts that had significant effects on university operations.
Goséy said that the upcoming budget, which will be announced near the start of the spring semester, may again force ASM to evaluate which programs are valued and need to be funded by steadily rising student segregated fees.
Student Activity Center Governing Board Chair Katrina Morrison said it would be important for ASM’s Legislative Affairs Committee, chaired by Sally Rohrer, and other concerned students to lobby for their education, to ensure UW-Madison is not “massively” cut again. Morrison said it would be important for state legislators to “fund” the tuition freeze so that further cuts to the university do not actually increase costs for students.
3. Ensuring medical amnesty
Morrison also said ASM is working to get a medical amnesty bill passed in the legislature that would promote more reports of sexual assaults by clearing both parties—the victim and the person who called 911— of any criminal charges, regardless if they were drinking.
A sexual assault bill passed last spring is a step in the right direction, Morrison said, but the medical amnesty bill would provide further protection against any consequences bystanders or victims of a sexual assault could face in reporting the incident.
4. Promoting shared governance
With shared governance—a process that allows for equal decision-making representation for students, faculty and staff across campus—no longer secured in state statute, Goséy said ASM will continue to push for it to become a campus-wide policy.
Students and all relevant stakeholders should have a say in decisions concerning university operations, Goséy argued, like having a seat on search-and-screen committees for new UW-Madison leadership. She said it will be important to make sure shared governance is a “respected process” on campus.
