Members of Associated Students of Madison, the reigning student government, weighed in on an emerging movement that has pledged to reform the existing bureaucracy at an open ASM town hall meeting Wednesday night.
ASM Chair Eric Varney was highly dismissive of the group, officially known as Student Government,\ which formed during the ASM election debacle three weeks ago.
""As far as I know, the Student Government is not even a registered student organization on this campus. They are nothing more than several students just trying to garner some media support,"" Varney said, adding that he believes ASM is still the legitimate voice of the University. ""We do have the backing of the student body and the administration, we are the official student government on this campus, and that's going to last many years.""
Jennifer Knox, ASM Finance Committee chair, added, ""As far as addressing some of the concerns, I think our goal is always to address the concerns of the student body as a whole.""
Knox cited both listening to election criticisms and ASM's ongoing public forums as opportunities for students to voice their opinions.
According to UW-Madison freshman Sol Grosskopf, a member of Student Government and an ASM Student Council representative, Student Government plans on enacting change through the ASM system.
""ASM is showing signs of becoming more transparent. However, there are a lot of hills we have to overcome,"" Grosskopf said. ""At the last meeting they defeated a motion to start a reform committee.""
Grosskopf said a reform committee is crucial to changing ASM from within.
""I don't think Student Government's role here will really be done until ASM starts to make some major changes so they're more accessible and easy to understand within the student populous,"" he said. ""But if they reform where Student Government is no longer needed, I believe everyone will be happier, those on ASM and Student Government.""
Responding to Varney's criticism, Grosskopf said, ""by all means, if Eric Varney wants to call us a ‘not actual group,' that's his choice. When the American Revolutionary War started out, the Sons of Liberty were not much, but they succeeded in their tasks.""
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