Any first-year student can now run for a freshman seat on the Associated Students of Madison's Student Council, thanks to an amendment passed at a meeting Wednesday.
Before these revisions, students with more than 24 credits were ineligible to run as a freshman representative, regardless of whether they were a first-year student at UW-Madison.
Representative Erik Paulson said many first-year students actually have sophomore standing, making them ineligible to run for the seats.
""The problem is that ‘freshman,' to most of us, means someone that is new to campus,"" he said. ""To the university, it means anyone who has fewer than 24 credits.""
Representative Colin Ingram said transfer students and incoming graduate students are both new to UW-Madison as well and represent a voice that has never experienced student life at UW-Madison.
""Voting for this law as it is right now will be a vote to exclude new graduate students, new professional students and new transfer students from being represented in this body,"" he said.
According to Kurt Gosselin, ASM secretary, when the constitution was written, the creators had a different definition of the term ‘freshman' because of lower numbers of incoming freshmen with existing college credits.
""We're seeking to clarify our original constitution and redefine what our framers thought freshmen were ... and I do not believe it was in the framers' intent to include incoming transfer students, graduate and professional students,"" he said.
Although Paulson suggested more time to discuss the amendment after significant debate, it was passed by a 15-2 vote.
