After a rally on the steps of Memorial Union Thursday evening, hours of impassioned discussion and student testimony, resolutions to remove Associated Students of Madison Diversity Chair junior Jennifer Epps and ASM Vice Chair sophomore Emily McWilliams failed.
Several ASM representatives acknowledged political motivations behind the resolutions, particularly in McWilliams' case.
Dozens of students attended the rally on the union steps, carrying signs and shouting chants in support of Epps and McWilliams. From there, they proceeded to the ASM Student Council meeting.
Epps had several charges leveled against her in the resolution, including \ineffective leadership within ASM"" and ""unprofessional conduct unbecoming of one in ASM leadership."" However, she had strong support among the students present and many spoke on her behalf.
""Jennifer Epps is great. We have stronger relations with people of color on campus because of her,"" said Victoria Bomben, a UW-Madison senior and staff financial coordinator at the Campus Women's Center.
Students present said they felt the effort to remove Epps was purely selfish and a strike against campus diversity.
Tony Schultz, a senior at UW-Madison, condemned the council's ideology-driven agenda.
""You represent no one but your selfish interests,"" he said.
Toni Johns, also a UW-Madison senior, said she agreed the council was in trouble if it did not consider the wishes of minorities groups on campus.
""If you vote [Epps and McWilliams] down, it's gonna get ugly,"" she said.
Epps spoke several times on her own behalf, noting her commitment to respecting other views while staunchly expressing her own.
""It's not ideologies'it's ignorance I can't stand,"" she said. ""I like to do things and not talk about doing things.""
Other arguments against Epps' removal were surprising. Steven Weiss, a UW-Madison junior and ASM representative, said he was having difficulty making a decision on the resolutions.
""ASM is structurally faulty,"" he said. ""There is no way to compromise. ... Somebody will always get hurt.""
Weiss closed by saying he would remove his sponsorship from both bills.
David Presberry, an ASM representative and UW-Madison junior, also shocked the crowd by revealing that he had been offered the diversity chair spot in exchange for his vote against the women. Despite this, he voted with the majority of council members to keep them.
McWilliams received equal support from students present at the meeting. Her removal was requested after she organized a Sept. 11 candlelight vigil regarded by some members as unpatriotic, ""insensitive and offensive,"" as it did not represent all campus religions. The resolution also cited abuse of power in other decisions she made.
""We need a more fair and balanced vice chair,"" said Ryan Nichols, an ASM representative and UW-Madison senior, who voted to oust McWilliams.
Despite his efforts, other council members told of an underlying political agenda behind the allegations against McWilliams. Tom Clark, an ASM representative and UW-Madison senior, said he and others were motivated by the identical party affiliation of the current ASM chair and vice chair.
McWilliams said she was pleased with the outcome.
""I am grateful that people could put aside their ideological differences to see that party politics is not as important as ethics and good work that's been done for the sake of the organization,"" she said.
