At a panel Thursday night at the Memorial Union entitled Meet Your Representatives, local legislative members had the opportunity to field questions regarding issues important to UW-Madison students. Halloween and student involvement came to the forefront at the discussion.
Opening the WUD Contemporary Issues Committee-sponsored forum, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, told students he represented them in City Hall and that they could contact him with problems related to city government.
Verveer characterized drinking and housing as the issues he deals with most frequently. He added that students having problems with their landlords often contact him for help.
\I always come to campus whenever there's an invitation. I love the campus,"" Verveer said. He specified issues such as broken-up house parties or drinking tickets as much of his student interaction.
Each alder represents 11,000 constituents, and the three present emphasized they are the students' representatives at the level of government that is closest to the people.
Ald. Austin King, District 8, said having a close relationship with his constituents is his favorite aspect of being an alder. With 93 percent of his representatives under age 25, King represents the district most heavily comprised of students and commented that he enjoyed seeing students around town and in the bars.
Urging students to ""pay attention to what's going on,"" Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, called on students to get involved in government. She cited the case of a Milwaukee state representative who would prioritize an issue if he received five letters about it and told students that city alders greatly appreciated student input.
Madison Police Captain Mary Schauf addressed student concerns regarding Halloween. She told those present that police had no plans to cancel Halloween and that they will not greatly alter their crowd-control tactics from previous years.
She did, however, note that police will be taking action against revelers whose actions incite others to violence. ""Moshing and body-slamming precipitates the worst behavior,"" she said.
Schauf called on students to be responsible and to keep an eye on friends who might engage in disorderly conduct.
She noted a student complaint from past Halloweens was that partiers could not hear police instructions and said that police worked to address the issue by purchasing commercial grade audio equipment this year.
""There's no way based on the decibels this thing cranks that you are not going to hear it,"" she said.
