An unexpected open forum appearance from the UW-Madison College Republicans prompted the Associated Students of Madison Student Council to review language in its biennial budget resolution during Wednesday’s meeting.
Freshman Jake Lubenow, who spoke on behalf of the College Republicans, argued that the Council’s resolution reflected partisan views and did not represent the campus as a whole.
“If you’re going to be a partisan board and make partisan decisions regarding the budget, you should call yourself a partisan board, because making blatant assumptions about the entire campus is irresponsible,” Lubenow said.
The resolution, which originated from UW-Marinette, details ASM’s opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed $300 million in cuts and public authority status, as well as voicing its support for the Wisconsin Idea.
Lubenow recognized that affordability and accessibility are major concerns for students across campus, but condemned ASM for failing to voice support on the budget’s efforts to account for these concerns.
Lubenow said it seems a bit hypocritical that when Gov. Scott Walker announced the tuition freeze, ASM did not release anything in support of his idea, but they advocated for affordability in their resolution.
Lubenow also addressed student accessibility to teachers, saying that these interactions are a problem regardless of the budget cuts.
“We’re just going to continue hiring professors who continue to do research, but don’t actually do anything in the classroom,” Lubenow said.
Lubenow concluded by urging the Council to consider the Wisconsin Idea’s “search for truth” when working on the resolution in order to better represent the entirety of the student body.
Moving into discussion on the budget resolution, the Council examined language in the document that could be seen as partisan.
Members proposed removing all mention of Walker’s name in the resolution to avoid pointedly targeting a specific individual. After initial debate, the motion passed.
Further motions included striking the line “ASM supports the Wisconsin Idea,” and adding an acknowledgement that Walker also supports the Wisconsin Idea. Both of these motions failed.
After the necessary changes were made to the document, the resolution passed.
The Council also heard from UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Darrell Bazzell, who spoke on the challenges the university would face if the proposed budget cuts become a reality, despite autonomy measures.
“All the flexibilities in the world would not be enough to manage this cut,” Bazzell said.
