The Associated Students of Madison Student Council approved a college affordability campaign Wednesday, which will aim to evaluate different factors that contribute to students’ college expenses.
The campaign, sponsored by ASM Chair David Gardner and headed by Mary Prunty, was originally introduced to Council last week but a vote was postponed. Prunty said she believes college affordability is a “national issue” that “affects almost all students on campus.”
Rep. Sarah Neibart chose to abstain from voting Wednesday because she said student council wasn’t presented with any more details than last week. The vote was originally put off because many council representatives asked how out of state and graduate students were being targeted in these efforts, and not only in-state undergraduate students.
Prunty said she sees working on affordability for all students as an important issue, but something for individual grassroots campaigns to work on.
University Health Services employees also educated Student Council on three programs, Tonight, AlcoholEdu, and Badgers Step Up!
Tonight is a tutorial that focuses on sexual assault and dating violence and was made a requirement this year for all first-year students, as well as students returning to residence halls.
AlcoholEdu and Badgers Step Up! are both programs that provide students with information on alcohol consumption and encourage awareness of how alcohol can affect their college lives.
According to UHS Executive Director, Sarah Van Orman, many university students have dangerous levels of alcohol consumption.
“Probably our biggest… reason students don’t complete their education or drop out or don’t do well academically is alcohol on our campus,” Van Orman said.
