But remember ASM, this is the last straw. If you fuck up next year, and do not accomplish your goals, disband. Immediately. Start fresh. This *is* the last chance for reform. Sewell just ran (oh wait, she’s totally immune from criticism, right?) what appears to be the least effective ASM… ever, and it really can’t get much worse.
Recently, this editorial board has not hesitated to voice concerns with ASM. We, along with the rest of this campus, felt justified in doing so. Year after year, we watch ASM propose sweeping reforms and an all-or-nothing “hook” with no chance of enactment. Year after year, ASM has been ridden with representatives who seem more concerned with padding their résumés than actually improving the effectiveness of their organization and advancing student concerns.
With this in mind, we believe that ASM has turned a corner. The newly elected representatives have realized they must prioritize and enact internal reforms if they hope to be more than a student bus pass dispenser. Moreover, we were pleased to hear representative Jeff Wright report that ASM is dropping the hook issue platform.
In addition:
Creating a press office will streamline ASM’s contact with students and the press, allowing for a healthy two-way line of communication. Although initially skeptical that creating this office would simply add components to ASM’s already muddled bureaucracy, the need for a public relations office became readily apparent after the poorly attended “State of the ASM” forum several weeks ago. Moreover, this office promises to increase transparency and accountability for an organization suffering from a lack of both.
Masse, keeps up the BH “natural skeptic” routine:
The state of the Associated Students of Madison is as bleak as always, but a significant group of incoming members are pledging to clean up shop. They have some good ideas, like the establishment of a budget cap and an ASM president, along with one truly dreadful one: the creation of an ASM press office, responsible for helping members craft their messages to the media and public at large.
ASM is a bloated bureaucracy, and a press office staffed by paid media liaisons would only add to it. Worse, the office would probably be paid to do nothing. Other than distributing segregated fees and appointing people to shared governance committees, ASM doesn’t really do anything.
If, by chance, an ASM member does need the press office to distribute a press release, who would be the recipient? ASM coverage is the province of the two student newspapers and a handful of student blogs. Contacting them doesn’t require a press release or any other fancy techniques — it simply requires keeping in contact with a key person or two.
If an ASM member can’t sell or otherwise create an effective message for an idea, chances are the idea is bunk to begin with. There’s a reason the U.S. Senate doesn’t write press communications for its members. They have to figure that out on their own. ASM members can too.
First of all, let me say perhaps this is the way ASM explained the press office to him. And if so, it stinks. But reading what the DC said, coupled with my private conversations, and after reading comments on the CB, it leads me to hope Masse is wrong. And if that is the case, I think Masse’s portrayal of the press office is shortsighted and off-base.
I outlined some practical reasons for a press office here. No, they shouldn’t be writing speeches and releases for individual ASM members, but YES, a well-trained group of students can better handle PR for the organization. It will improve ASM-to-student communication, voter turnout, and more effectively balance the efficiency of the organization.
14 Comments
May 1, 2008 at 3:00 am
“perhaps this is the way ASM explained the press office to him”
I think you’re wrongly giving him the benefit of the doubt in assuming he actually talked to them. Considering how routinely poor Masse’s columns are, I’d say he didn’t.
May 1, 2008 at 3:11 am
Woa. Routinely poor? I completely disagree, but nevermind about that right now.
Masse likely is going off of the Editorial Board meeting with ASM reps and what they told us. I did tape it, so if I have the time, I’ll go back and review what their actual words were.
May 1, 2008 at 10:45 am
Ok, you proved me wrong. I just never like Masse’s writing. When I disagree with him I don’t think his arguments are ever strong, and when I agree with him I feel the same way.
May 1, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[...] the advantages of increased communication with students. For example, the Critical Badger … a well-trained group of students can better handle PR for the organization. It will improve ASM-to-student communication, voter turnout, and more effectively balance the [...]
May 1, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Yo CB…
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=22485
Zimmermann called 911 shortly before being beaten and stabbed to death…
May 1, 2008 at 12:46 pm
There is still significant debate on what the press office will look like. I would be interested in hearing input. I envision 3 student staff. The director would be hired for 15 hours a week, while the two associates would be hired for 10 hours a week. I am not sure exactly what the work load would be. This may be overkill, but we will see when it happens. Then we probably would give the office a couple interns. Personally, I would like to keep the office as small as possible. I worry that with more people, we only increasing the possibilities for miscommunications.
I share the concerns of building ASM bureaucracy. For that reason I would like to keep it small. Additionally, to address Masse’s concerns, the creation of the press office would replace the campus relation committee. This committee deals in part with press relations, but also works on outreach. We are essentially splitting these functions. Now this new press-shop will be a closed group that works exclusively on media relations. Outreach will be dealt with by student council representatives.
This outreach committee will work to increase opportunities for students to give input and for representatives to discuss issues with constituents.
I have laid out one conception of how this would work. I am very interested in hearing your impressions of this structure and ways that it could be improved upon.
May 1, 2008 at 12:48 pm
There isn’t enough media out reach to do with 35 hours of human-power a week. Cut back.
May 1, 2008 at 2:40 pm
“This outreach committee will work to increase opportunities for students to give input and for representatives to discuss issues with constituents.”
Alex,
Everyone who talks about overthrowing ASM has nothing but good things to say about your potential to reform the organization. But what in the world does the above statement mean?
May 1, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Alex,
If you hired them for specific hours, would they have to be in the office the whole time? From doing PR for a campus group, things can come up at all hours of the day, so sticking to a set schedule isn’t realistic.
Perhaps an hourly/stipend hybrid would work best. Of course, if a student is hired for 10 or 15 hours per week and is willing to work outside the office at any time, I guess it wouldn’t be a problem. You’ll need to find people really committed to the job.
May 1, 2008 at 4:06 pm
My vision of the press shop differs slightly from that of Alex’s and includes the hybrid payment structure that Erik O suggests. I would like to see a Press Secretary paid as a stipended position with a Deputy Press Secretary, stipended at a lesser amount.
Additionally, I envision 3 hourly positions dedicated to specific ASM policy areas each slated for approximately 5-8 hours per week. The policy divisions could potentially divide along the lines of Shared Governance and Student Council, Segregated Fees and Student Activity Center Governing Board, and the other Grassroots Committees and Campaigns, etc. Additionally, I would support a rigorously-screened and selected 2-3 additional interns/press corp members (either one assigned to each policy group or as floating assistants).
Furthermore, there is a strong push among many 15th Session Council-Elect to enforce accountability to students and reaching out to constituents, and this press shop is envisioned as a replacement for the Campus Relations committee to handle press issues entirely. As Alex addressed, the outreach committee will be an additional mechanism for receiving student input.
I wanted to present another plan for discussion and hope for additional student input.
May 1, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Remember that time I posted some stuff in Russian?
I really appreciate you coming on here to outline this, Kurt, but we need to take one GIANT leap back.
If ASM is to become… useful to students, ASMers need to understand: WE DON’T SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE!!!!
I have no idea what some of these things mean:
and I am someone who has worked in campus politics for 4 years. 98% of this school doesn’t get it. And when you throw around “15th session” so freely, it’s just another example.
Student input is different from “already involved, highly-active input” which is what you’ll get from this.
I really like that you’ve outlined a different plan. Seriously, don’t take this as a personal jab, but I think sometimes ASMers forget even the simplist actions they take are misunderstood/confusing to the ultra-majority here, and that is something that must be fixed before we can have a meaningful dialouge that includes more students, boosting ASMs rep and voter turnout from that magical 7%ish number.
May 1, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Sam,
That may have come across a little poorly. Currently ASM does a dismal job soliciting student input.
If we ever wish to move away from the realm of resume padding hacks sitting in ivory towers, ASM must become a viable forum for student issues. Currently ASM is obsolete when it comes to many student issues.
ASM must make opportunities to become involved in these issues. I am not sure what the best way to do this is, but it likely means town hall meetings, etc. Otherwise, ASM will continue to exist in its own isolated world.
May 1, 2008 at 5:00 pm
CB:
Thank you for your input on the language issue. It is true that often ASMers (students involved with ASM) often use language which the general public, and even those highly active and involved in numerous aspects of campus, do not recognize.
I will try to give a basic explanation on some of the points that I posted, but by no means is this an entirely inclusive list or explanation.
Shared Governance is the committee on ASM that is charged with appointing students to committees that affect campus life. These committees are composed of university faculty and staff, sometimes other community members and students. These students are the “student voice” or “seat at the table” on this committees.
Segregated Fees constitute the additional portion on your tuition bill ($428 each semester for this past year) that fund a variety of services on this campus. Allocable segregated fees fund General Student Services Fund (GSSF) organizations such as WISPIRG, Sex Out Loud, Campus Women’s Center, Student Tenant Union and GUTS (there are many more) as well as the ASM internal budgets, and the bus pass.
(It is also important to note that a significant portion of the ASM budgets is allocated by the Finance Committee in the form of grants for student organizations to travel to conferences, host events on campus and pay for basic operations).
The Student Activity Center Governing Board is a fairly recent addition to ASM and is the body charged with allocating space in the new Student Activity Center (S.A.C.), which is scheduled to be open by Spring Semester next year. There are 63 offices of various sizes in the S.A.C. ranging from 50 sq ft to 750 sq ft as well as storage cages, lockers and mailboxes for student organizations to use. This committee also handles all policies related to the S.A.C.
Grassroots committees and campaigns refer to the standing committees within ASM and the initiatives that ASM undertakes.
15th Session refers to the session of ASM since its inception. This nomenclature is consistent with “sessions” in a congressional context. Unlike the U.S. House of Representatives which has 2-year sessions, ASM has annual sessions. Today, May 1, 2008, marks the opening of 15th session tonight at the ASM Student Council Meeting.
I hope this elucidates some of the aspects of ASM and allows my comments to be better interpretted. Thanks again for bringing this issue to our attention.
May 1, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I think the funniest part of this whole thing is that ASM is so terrible out student outreach and communication that members have to come on to the CB in order to present their potential plans for the press office, get student input about their ideas and solicit student ideas for how it should be run.
Not that using the CB is a terrible idea. I mean if the guy from Badger Property Management can figure out that its a good idea to advertises via comments on the CB, I would think ASM could figure the same thing out. Seriously, think about how the “State of the ASM Address” attendance issues could have been corrected in part with just a simple comment on the CB or asking the CB to make a post advertising the event. I bet the CB would have considered showing up to live blog. The people who would be most likely to come are exactly the same people who read this blog.
However, rather than using the CB as a forum to garner student input about the ASM press office why are you not doing this on the ASM blog and making a comment on the CB to the effect of “hey check out my thoughts on the format of the new press shop on the ASM blog . I’d love to hear your thoughts.” or advertising a town hall meeting to get student input on the ASM reforms.
I would think that reading student blogs and commenting should be part of the job of this new press secretary. For instance in response to this post a clarifying comment about which interpretation of the press office, the CB’s or Masse’s, was correct would have been really nice.