The Student Government
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Written May 28, 2008, by Emily Bradley:
"The Student Government" was a short-lived grassroots opposition group to UW-Madison's official student government, The Associated Students of Madison.
Contents |
Formation
On March 30, 2006 a group of students — Steven Schwerbel, Sol Grosskopf, Erick Butzlaff, Matt Weil and David Lapidus, among others — met in the Stiftskeller following the cancellation of the ASM Spring Elections. Citing a lack of accountability and transparency, the students proposed a hostile takeover of ASM. Schwerbel, who served as chair of the constitutional committee of Student Government, voiced his distaste for ASM in a March 31, 2006 Badger Herald opinion piece:
Corruption ran rampant in ASM. While serving as a student representative on ASM, Cedric Lawson not only did not attend the university; he received money he shouldn't have. This possibility for corruption goes unchecked because of the general incompetence of the ASM representatives, who care more for petty bureaucratic fights than for truly serving students. Candidates and groups have attempted reform for decades. Matt Modell fought vehemently for students' rights against ASM oppression. Numerous candidates were elected last year on a reformist platform. However, these leaders have been blocked in their efforts for reform by the careerist resume-padders. This can no longer stand.
Other members, such as Lapidus, intimated they would support internal reform if attempts of takeover failed. Lapidus was later elected as a member of Student Services Finance Committee running on the "Robin Hood" slate. On April 4, three ASM members and three candidates signed a "contract with students" admitting reform was near impossible. However, two of the signatories, Lapidus and Grosskopf, were already members of Student Government.
Platform
At some point during their formation, the group asked students for input through a Badger Herald opinion piece. Student Government's only articulated platform point was the reform of UW's segregated fee system. Schwerbel and others believed the segregated fee system was "bloated" and an unnecessary contributer to the rising cost of higher education. Student Government's main plan was to set a cap of segregated fees that matched increases in inflation.
Disbandment and Effect
After trouble recruiting new members and an apparent loss of "momentum," the Student Government announced it would disband on April 28, 2006. Schwerbel said the group had been successful and had initiated reform within in ASM. Butzlaff cited lack of shared vision and commitment as the reason for Student Government's demise:The reason Student Government failed is that exactly two of the six members actually believed in the idea of revolution. It was clear to me almost from the beginning that aside from Steve and myself, no one wanted to put in the effort to make this thing work.
The reaction to Student Government's efforts were fairly mixed. Badger Herald Editorial Board member Brad Vogel repeatedly praised the group in columns and his blog, Letters in Bottles. In a Herald opinion piece, he stated a victory for Student Government would be a victory for students, even if the group replaced ASM and did nothing. While several ASM members did attend their initial meeting, most ASM representatives claimed reform, not disbandment, was the solution to their problems. ASM chair Eric Varney repeatedly assailed the group, at one point saying the group held the meeting as a "hoax for them to get their pictures in the newspaper." The group did have a very low member base and had very few additions in the month of their operation.
Some of the Student Government members had an effect on ASM through internal reform. Grosskopf and another ASM representative tried to create a separate Reform Committee while on Student Council while Lapidus demanded higher scrutiny of student group budgets during his time on SSFC. However, ASM only passed one notable reform during the existance of Student Government. The change required any SSFC member with ties to a student group receiving segregated fees to abstain from any decisions regarding that particular group. Furthermore, Varney stated the reforms were not influenced by Student Government.
Although a failure, Student Government has remained a symbolic event for its former proponents. At the second meeting of ASM's 15th session, Grosskopf, acting as presiding officer of ASM Student Council, declared April 5th as "Student Government Revolution Day." This came following a tumultuous start to the 15th session of ASM that saw Rep. Alex Gallagher resign at the end of the first SC meeting.
