No first-year liaison will sit on the upcoming 25th session of Student Council after the Associated Students of Madison rejected legislation that would allow for first-year representation on the body Tuesday night, despite passing on its initial vote.
The Student Judiciary controversially decided to remove freshman representation in ASM as a part of the reapportionment — which reassesses the population each school or college every four years — in the fall.
In previous debates, ASM members were worried that specific freshman issues didn’t warrant a stand-alone committee since there are other committees currently in place to deal with their concerns.
“I find that a lot of the people that come to my committee during the year are freshmen, so I do think they are getting their voices heard,” said Equity and Inclusion Chair Alex Hader.
Shared Governance Chair Deena Whitwam sees her committee as a good way for freshmen to get involved with student government, which is why there are more seats available than filled.
But Rep. Kaiyang Chen viewed it as an opportunity for first-year students to have a voice on the body, instead of solely on a committee.
“The initial idea for this legislation was to make some way for first year students to have some way to speak their words out in the student council,” Rep. Kaiyang Chen said. “And, hopefully the first-year student could serve the way that we are in Student Council.”
But, Outreach Director Yogev Ben-Yitschak pointed out the potential of a first-year committee consisting of one person, who would become the liaison by default.
“There is a reason why none of the other open committees elect their own chairs, because an open committee means anybody can come and vote for their own chair, who will then become a liaison,” Ben-Yitschak said. “There is good chance it will just be a meeting where one person comes.”
Rep. Jeremy Swanson had similar feelings and was uncertain about what value a first-year representative could bring.
“The fact that we don’t know exactly the value that is going to be derived from this committee is a reason to worry,” Swanson said. “I don’t think we should take that step without knowing the full picture.”
