Representatives-elect of the 15th session of the Associated Students of Madison’s Student Council acknowledged several “failures” Sunday in student government that past leaders neglected to address.

The group of 14 released a statement outlining their plans to improve ASM and to help the organization “regain legitimacy.”

Fifteenth-session council members do not take their positions until May 1, but they have already begun to discuss a plan for reform in the fall.

“ASM must reform its internal structure in order to increase its capacity to work on campus issues and regain legitimacy,” the statement said.

College of Letters and Science representative and Student Services Finance Committee Chair Alex Gallagher said ASM’s new goal is to make student government legitimate to all students.

“It’s hard to say whether it’s legitimate or illegitimate right now,” Gallagher said. “It’s illegitimate to a large portion of the student population.”

The declaration of change comes on the heels of the poorly attended “State of the ASM” address, which College of Letters and Science representative and Shared Governance Committee Chair Jeff Wright said was “indicative of larger systemic issues that we are having with student government right now.”

Only three members of the media and six ASM members attended the State of the ASM address.

In the statement, the representatives-elect acknowledge what they see as ASM’s failures, including “to execute specific and unified campaigns that address issues of higher education,” “to seek appropriate input from the student body on its campaigns and services” and to “provide a viable forum to discuss and address current issues affecting the campus.”

“We want to send the message to students that many members know the problem and that we are taking steps to address the issues,” Wright said. “The release was a declaration of our commitment to changing the way student government functions.”

The 15th-session council members have outlined a plan to initiate a presidential system, which they hope would help student government to be more accountable to the students.

“We need leaders appointed by students that are accountable to students,” Wright said.

The outline also calls for an implementation of new bylaws requiring the student council to approve all initiatives and campaigns of individual committees. Gallagher said committees are not currently required to get approval from the council and these bylaw changes will create a stronger central government.

“ASM overextends itself by taking on so many things,” Gallagher said. “Our intent is to have Student Council do the steering of the entire organizations, and the committees would just be the arms as extensions.”

The representatives-elect also want to create a press office to handle ASM’s public relations, a plan that Wright said is very important.

“This year we have been pretty absent, and I would like to see a stronger relationship (between ASM and) the media and then the media to the students,” Wright said.

A major goal in the process of reforming ASM is to improve outreach to students. UW junior David Lapidus, who attempted to create an alternate student government in revolt of ASM in 2006, said many of ASM’s failures have had much to do with outreach. Campaign and outreach initiatives attempted by ASM over the last few years have “been a wreck,” Lapidus said.

Lapidus said the plans to implement change are attainable and cover the major issues within the organization, and that the representatives-elect’s statement is a positive development.

He said it is a good sign that there is a consensus among the group that there is a problem and that the 15th-session members are very capable individuals, but he is waiting to see if the plans get carried out.

“If they screw this up for another year, there could be another revolt,” Lapidus said. “Students aren’t going to continue to put up with this.”