Looking forward to the next school year, Associated Students of Madison Chair Andrew Bulovsky said he feels the 19th session of student council will be more productive than sessions past.
Having served as a representative and vice chair in the most recent session, Bulovsky said he witnessed too much inside fighting among members and disrespect for ASM processes.
“Many representatives were trying to play an ‘ends justifies the means’ politics, which is what the 19th session will not be doing,” Bulovsky said.
Last session’s ASM Chair Allie Gardner said she would advise Bulovsky to not become sidetracked with the internal politics of student government, which she said she can already see forming in the new student council.
But Gardner also said the session was successful in areas where everyone agreed, such as advocating for shared governance on campus.
“I think [the 19th session of ASM has] to build relationships with each other and find areas of common ground,” Gardner said. “It’s much easier to agree with people that you trust, trust is really important, and I think our session lacked that.”
Bulovsky said one of his top priorities for next year is to give students a strong voice in selecting the university’s next chancellor.
“First we need to fight for as many students as possible to be on the search and screen committee and then make sure the students on that committee are the best students possible, and that they are students who understand shared governance,” Bulovsky said. “It’s important because it’s selecting a chancellor for ideally the next half decade or so.”
Bulovsky said he hopes during his tenure the student body will realize ASM has control over student money and plays an important role in creating the campus climate.
As she passes the ASM chairship onto Bulovsky, Gardner said she encourages students to continue working to gain more of a say in governance on campus.
“This is our university,” Gardner said. “Whatever mechanisms we can use to alternate power and make sure that it is our university and that it stays that way, we have to use them.”
