Student Council Meeting Recap: April 1
Posted: 2020-04-02 15:24:51 Expiration: 2040-04-09 15:24:51
Associated Students of Madison
333 East Campus Mall, 4301 Student Activity Center, Madison, WI
Website: asm.wisc.edu Phone: 608/265-4ASM
E-mail: press@asm.wisc.edu
STUDENT COUNCIL PASSES RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FAIR TRADE UNIVERSITY CERTIFICATION
The Associated Students of Madison (ASM) Student Council met on Wednesday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom.
Chair reports were shared.
Director Lammers discussed her idea to create a self-care and resources video from ASM. She brought up the virtual town hall that ASM is in the process of planning. Director Lammers also provided an update on Campus Relations Committee meetings being suspended for the remainder of the semester.Director Mitnick discussed how the virtual town hall is intended to be student driven. By having ASM host the event, as well as garner questions from students via a google form or Qualtrics survey, the student perspective would be better represented. He also provided social media updates and how ASM has been promoting voting for the upcoming April 7 Wisconsin Spring Primary. Media Bulletins will be uploaded directly to the knowledge base. This will be the central location for ASM updates, events and announcements.
Chair Lampron linked the Bias Report tracker in their chair report and shared how the Equity & Inclusion Committee will be continuing its meetings and campaigns virtually over Zoom.Chair Bosma stated that new university travel and event restrictions would impact the Grant Allocation Committee and process for approving grants. A review of internal policies and procedures is ongoing. Operations grants will still be finalized, however.
Chair Lang discussed how the newly implemented hiring freeze will affect the Nominations Board.Chair Goyal shared how Shared Governance Committee meetings will be held virtually, with the next meeting occurring on Thursday night of this week using Zoom. He announced two shared governance vacancies - the Downtown Coordinating Committee student seat and Search and Screen for the Director of the Office of Financial Aid. The deadline to apply for these vacancies is April 5 at noon.
Chair Pietroske reiterated how the Student Activity Center (SAC) is closed until further notice, although office space allocations are still occurring.
Chair Alaei offered an update on how Earth Week will still be held virtually. She also shared how she is working on making future Association of Big Ten Schools (ABTS) conferences more sustainable. The Sustainability Committee will be held on Zoom.
Chair Downer offered information about her recent meetings with university administration on ASM’s virtual town hall, COVID-19, University Health Services (UHS), and the Amnesty Through Responsible Action guidelines.
Vice Chair Grunow shared updates on her recent meetings with university administration as well as on the topics of mental health services and sustainable ABTS conferences. She also mentioned her recent involvement with sitting on the Search and Screen Committee for the Director of Recreation and Wellbeing.
Vice Chair Reilly said that she has remained in touch with General Student Service Fund (GSSF) groups on the status of their employment and wages, as well as how COVID-19 will impact their budgets. The Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC) will be meeting on Zoom for regularly scheduled meetings.
Representative Ben-Yitschak shared how the Open Seat has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank. Every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Open Seat is handing out pre-packaged food items to students at Union South. To request a package of food, students should fill out this form by Thursday for pick-up the following Tuesday. Food packages come in a 10 lb size for an individual or a 25 lb size for a household of four.
There was one piece of new legislation to be voted upon at this meeting. Chair Alaei introduced the Resolution in Support of Fair Trade University Certification.
It states that ASM supports the implementation of fair trade products, education, and awareness at UW-Madison. ASM will also support UW-Madison in its efforts to receive Fair Trade University Certification, as outlined by Fair Trade Campaigns. To receive this, UW Madison must implement a Fair Trade Committee, ensure all campus owned and operated venues have at least two Fair Trade products available for purchase, engage with food service providers or office suppliers to make Fair Trade products available for administrative and faculty offices, work with food service providers to make Fair Trade products available for university hosted meetings and events, increase on-campus awareness of Fair Trade and pass resolutions in support of Fair Trade University Certification through shared governance bodies.
Vice Chair Grunow motioned to suspend the rules to allow for a debate and vote on the legislation. With a vote of 11-0-2, the motion passes.
With a vote of 11-0-2, the legislation passes.
The next Student Council meeting will be held via Zoom on April 15.
-- Associated Students of Madison: Matthew Mitnick