Associated Students of Madison unanimously voted to officially endorse a Common Council amendment that would make a permanent position for a student representative on the Alcohol License Review Committee.
According to ASM Legislative Affairs Committee Chair Adam Johnson, the amendment would modify the pending expansion of the ALRC from seven voting members to nine, mandating that one of the new positions remain permanently set aside for a student representative.
UW-Madison student and Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, proposed the amendment.
Johnson, a proponent of the amendment, asked the student council to support the amendment before the vote.
He said he plans to attend the Common Council meeting next Tuesday with other members of the LAC in representation of students and in support of the amendment.
According to Johnson, a strong student presence at next week's Common Council meeting will work to prove that students feel strongly about the issue.
""It will give students a chance to speak in open forum and to be one of the primary responses to one of the biggest criticisms of this: that students don't care enough about it,"" he said.
Students are currently represented on the ALRC by a ""technical advisor,"" which is a student who had speaking rights at the meetings, but no voting role.
However, the passing of the new amendment would not give ASM control over the student representative.
If it is passed, the ALRC student representative will be a ""generic citizen"" chosen by the mayor and could come from any of the Madison colleges, not necessarily UW-Madison.
Johnson said if the amendment is passed, ASM will send a list of approved students to the mayor in hopes that he will consider their recommendations.
ASM Secretary Kurt Gosselin said the placement of a student member on the ALRC with full privileges, regardless of the stipulations, would be ""a complete victory.""
