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Student Council Meeting Recap: November 13

Posted: 2019-11-15 09:56:52   Expiration: 2040-11-22 09:56:52

ASM Logo  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 CALLING FOR 100 PERCENT RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2050

The Associated Students of Madison Student Council met on Wednesday, November 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Activity Center Hearing Room.

Chair Downer shared a special announcement that UW-Madison came in second place in the Big10 Voter Challenge during last year’s spring elections with a turnout of 52.9%.

Representative Menden shared how he resigned from Nominations Board Chair, effective at 4:00 p.m. today.

Representative Ben-Yitschak offered an update on the Wiscard ID emergency numbers campaign. He shared how UW-Madison academic staff assembly passed a resolution in support of this campaign.

Chair Malloy announced that there will be a Higher Education Bills Townhall at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 21 in the Industry Room at Union South. 

There was a special order from Missy Nergard, Director of Sustainability for UW-Madison. She emphasized how sustainability is a systems based approach toward a variety of problems that do not necessarily have singular answers. The mission of sustainability in education is learning and research. 

In the The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report, UW-Madison earned 52.15 points, a silver rating. 

Missy Nergard explained how she supports the notion that students should be required to take a sustainability focused course, but not a generic one. Additionally, it was mentioned that there was not a Center for Teaching & Learning on campus and it would be beneficial to include one as a way to improve sustainable teaching methods. 

Chair Malloy motioned to strike the Board of Regents Free Speech Policy from the agenda. Representative Halama seconded the motion. Chair Malloy explained that due to the Board of Regents not convening to discuss free speech until the spring, a vote at this time is not necessary. With a vote of 21-0-2, the motion passes and the agenda is adopted.

Representative Lang nominated Representative MIller to sit on Nominations Board. Chair Lampron nominated Representative Kong to sit on Nominations Board. The two were appointed by unanimous consent.

Representative Lang nominated himself for Nominations Board Chair. He was appointed by unanimous consent.

New shared governance appointees were listed in Chair Goyal’s report. With a vote of 22-0-2, the appointees were approved.

Chair Alaei introduced a Resolution Calling for a Renewable Energy Commitment. It was co-sponsored by the ASM Sustainability Committee and Campus Leaders for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN). It called on ASM to fully support a target goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and 100 percent total renewable energy by 2050. It additionally called on Chancellor Blank to sign onto the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment with the aforementioned goal to ensure UW-Madison Is dedicated to pursuing renewable energy. 

With a vote of 22-0-3, the body voted to suspend the rules to allow for debate and a vote on the resolution. 

With a vote of 22-1-2 the legislation passes.

Chair Goyal introduced UW System Presidential Search Committee legislation. It called for ASM to urge the Board of Regents President Andrew S. Petersen to reconsider the formulation of the UWS Presidential Search and Screen Committee. It additionally called for ASM to demand that the selection process incorporates shared governance in the determination of additional faculty, staff and student representatives that expand the UWS Presidential Search and Screen Committee.

With a vote of 22-0-3, the body voted to suspend the rules to allow for debate and a vote on the resolution. 

With a vote of 21-0-3 the legislation passes.

Chair Downer re-introduced the vote on the approval of Subsection 1.01 - ASM Wage Policies.

With a vote of 21-0-2, the bylaw change is approved.

Chair Downer brought forth the final approval of the ASM Internal Budget for Fiscal Year 2021. 

Chair Downer introduced an amendment to amend the Shared Governance Project Assistant line to $25,056, based on recommendations from the Student Services Finance Committee (SSFC), which took the living wage in the City of Madison into account.

With a vote of 22-0-2 the amendment passes.

With a final vote of 22-0-3, the ASM Internal Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 is officially approved.

Representative Resch re-introduced legislation about the Special Committee on Campus Alcohol Policy. It called for Student Council to establish the Special Committee on Campus Alcohol Policy in accordance with the ASM Constitution, Article VIII, Section 3. Further, the committee will meet at least biweekly to gather qualitative, student experiences as they relate to alcohol policy, and collaborate with the relevant shared governance groups, ASM committee and student leaders who sit on relevant administrative advisory committees. Student Council will appoint at least one Student Council Representative to convene the committee and hear a report of the committee and each Student Council meeting.

Representative Warheit called the previous question to close debate on the legislation. With a vote of 10-12-3, the motion fails.

Chair Lang called the question to close discussion on the motion. 

With a vote of 21-0-2, it passes.

With a vote of 18-3-1, the legislation is tabled and will be discussed at the next Student Council meeting.

Student Council will meet next on November 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Activity Center Hearing Room.



-- Associated Students of Madison: Matthew Mitnick