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Following last week’s Associated Students of Madison elections, many students reading this might be asking themselves, ‘what is ASM?’ It’s come to my attention that, despite ASM’s enormous influence over how students’ segregated fees are spent, many students have no idea it even exists, so I’ve put the following timeline together. Hopefully it will give you an idea of ASM, its history and its purpose.
1922
Former Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, who would later be convicted as a result of his role in the Teapot Dome Scandal, lobbied the University of Madison-Wisconsin to create a student government as a false front in order to facilitate the oil industry’s bribery of various cabinet officials in the Harding administration. This was the start of ASM.
1961
President Dwight D. Eisenhower first brought ASM to national attention during his farewell address where he warned against the “student-government-industrial complex” and its immense potential for corruption and political manipulation.
1963
In October 1963, President John F. Kennedy reportedly made plans to “tear the ASM into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind” following its role in the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, in which ASM used student segregated fees to pay for bus passes used by anti-Castro militia men in their failed coup attempt.
Less than a month later, on that fateful November day in Houston when Kennedy was assassinated, ASM had an outsized presence in the city, according to emails from ASM leadership obtained by The Beet.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who is thought to have pulled the trigger on Kennedy, was also a low-ranking member of ASM, according to open records requests by The Beet, and the rifle he supposedly used was purchased using UW-Madison student segregated fees.
1972
Nixon hired ASM staffers to break into the Watergate hotel to spy on their mutual enemy, anti-war Democrats. This is a widely known fact — a shame the lame stream media doesn’t tell you about it. In fact, as a side note, it was Nixon who ordered the creation of the misinformation super spreader now known as The Badger Herald.
1985-1990
While on trial in 1988, former ASM council member Oliver North confessed to using over $985,241 in UW-Madison segregated fees to purchase $985,241 worth of arms, then sold $985,241 worth of arms to Iran who then sent $985,241 to the Contras to fund their fight against communism in Nicaragua.
While on trial, ASM administrative heads said they had no knowledge of North’s use of the segregated fees and expressed disappointment in his actions. Congress stated “if ASM didn’t know of North’s actions, it should have,” in its official report on the scandal.
1992
Despite numerous campaign scandals, ASM backed the election of Bill Clinton, then-governor of Arkansas and close pal to disgraced New York financier Jeffery Epstein. He was propelled into the White House, in part through, you guessed it, student segregated fees. Sensing a pattern here? We know of ASM’s involvement in the 1992 election because of records obtained from rabid ASM supporter, the “Ragin’ Cajun” himself, James “Jimmy” Carville.
2003
On February 5th, 2003 ASM Secretary of the Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC) Chris Powers gave a Google Slides presentation to the U.N. Security Council that ASM possessed intel proving Iraq developed chemical weapons of mass destruction and was involved with terrorism, violating U.N. Security Resolution 1441. ASM then assisted in the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq by raising UW-Madison segregated fees by 275% while cutting University Health Services.
2011- 2019
From his taking office in 2011 to his departure in 2019, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker reigned terror over the state of Wisconsin, with ASM at his side all eight years. While ASM officials publicly decried Walker's desecration of Robert M. La Follete’s legacy, they expressed immense support for his actions according to private messages obtained by The Beet.
ASM also played a role in Walker’s 2010, 2012 and 2014 election victories, where over $750,000 was transferred from an ASM slush fund to the Walker campaign according to financial records obtained by The Beet.
2024
ASM created the Madison Federalist as a way to attack The Daily Cardinal’s truth speech, and promote neoliberalist globalism.
2025
Did ASM send condoms to Ayotttolah Khamenei through the Sex Out Loud student organization? YUP! This was proven by DOGE.
Also, wanna guess how many times ASM was mentioned in the Epstein files? Over 50 million!
2026
Now, for the real reason I wrote this article. How in the world can ASM soak up so much of my tuition, only for them to not get the chest fly machine at the Nick fixed?! Whenever I go there to hit chest, whether it’s 7 a.m. or 11 p.m., one of the machines is always broken and the other two are being hogged by a bunch of morons crowded around it on their phones, barely using it! Come on man! If ASM wants to make me go into debt through all their segregated fees, they should at least buy another chest fly machine (maybe several) for the Nick!
