Outreach Part 2 of 3: Wisconsin Schools

We need to work with United Council and other UW schools to affect legislation pertaining to the UW system.  This is primarily regarding the biennial budget.  The budget is a statewide issue of course, so we need a statewide effort to really accomplish our goals.

Secondly, by having constant communications with other schools, we can look at issues comparatively on our campuses.  A problem that Madison faced this year, Eau Claire could face next year (or vice-versa) and by having conversations about problems and successes at our schools, we can improve the student condition on our own campus.  Best practices is key here and I think a very good reason why we need to keep attending United Council events in large numbers.

-AMJ

Outreach Part 1 of 3: Campus

This post is part 1 of 3 regarding Outreach and the role of the Vice-Chair.

This post focuses on how I plan on better connecting ASM to the campus at large, starting with connecting leadership to student organizations.

Rep. Tobelmann had the right idea with the TOAD campaign but I think we need to implement it in steps.  The first step is to have the chairs of the committees be in consistent contact with and attending the events of at least one student organization.  The chairs are the logical first step as the Vice-Chair has a say in the stipends of these positions, so it is actually enforceable.

Once these groups become accustomed to the chairs being there, the groups will get more comfortable in the conversations and eventually bring forth issues to these ASM representatives who can then bring it to Council.  Additionally, the Chairs can bring information about our relevant campaigns to these groups and gain their assistance in reaching these goals.

Other goals include:

-increase the use of the Press Office

-try to integrate grad students into ASM processes more than they are currently

-after achieving these initial steps, we can begin to look at reaching out to the campus at large and ways to achieve this.

And of course, these video blogs plus my regular blog will be very important in making my message available to the campus at large.

More to come tomorrow when I talk about United Council!

-AMJ

Alcohol Policy

This post on Alcohol Policy pertains to the ALRC’s work in reviewing the soon expiring Downtown Density Ordinance.

This is pertinent to students because alcohol policy has a much larger effect than just on those patrons who are of age.  What about those students 18-20 who can’t go drink at bars but still want to do more than house parties or the like on the weekend?  Entertainment options for these students is a huge concern.  The ALRC has been pushing for new establishments to adopt the 18+ liquor license to allow for live entertainment (bands, karaoke, etc) and allow for 18-20 year old students to enter and be entertained, but not drink.  Only 1 establishment currently does this.

But ultimately, the ordinance is about restricting the number of bars that can be in the downtown area.  This is a huge campus safety issue as studies done about the effects of the ordinance has shown a decrease in violence crime in areas where the bar density has lessened (so more bars = more crime).

In a city concerned about safety, and about entertainment (and especially about alcohol) this ordinance is very important to the student body and ASM would be doing students a disservice by not being at the table and pushing for student priorities.

-AMJ

5 Point Plan for Transparency and Accountability

For those who dislike Vlogs this is a summary of what I talk about.

I am running for Vice-Chair of ASM and am focusing right now on transparency and accountability because that is a major issue with the current leadership and I wanted to address it immediately.  So I have a 5 Point Plan for Transparency and Accountability for ASM leadership for the next session.

1) Council Accountability to students – Chairs need to submit reports every meeting and council reps need to hold office hours weekly.  This is a way for interested students to have some semblance of contact with their elected representatives.

2) Early Legislation – By submitting legislation a week before it is debated, it allows interested parties to have a chance to attend and speak about their interests and needs.

3) Twitter – great tool for instantaneous communication with followers.  It allows for people to know where we are and what we are doing to keep us honest and accountable.

4) Blogs – Brandon Williams and I run The Campus First, which is a blog about issues pertaining to students and how we plan to address them or simply our thoughts on the process.  We hope it becomes a forum where we can air our thoughts and have Council and students respond on there.

5) Video logs – I want to run a weekly ASM Fireside Chat piece from either myself or the Chair or a combination of us where we talk about what has been going on with ASM the past week and what we’re doing coming up.  It’s an easy way to get our faces out there too so that we are not seen as faceless representatives but actual students who are engaged with the student body.

I’ll have more up later this weekend!

Introduction

Hi everyone!  My name is Adam Johnson and I am currently running for the Vice-Chairship of ASM for the 17th Session.  As many of you have already checked out my other blog, The Campus First, I want to try something different and make some short videos, or vlogs, about my goals for next session.  Stay tuned for more!