The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition-University - Thursday, September 10, 1992 - Page 7
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MSA faces
criticism
by student
population.
by Purvi Shah
Daily Staff Reporter
Though the Michigan Student
Assembly is supposed to be the
voice for University students, most
campusgoers tend to ignore - or
even ridicule - the student
government.
MSA's inactivity, political bick-
ering, and involvement in foreign
and non-campus affairs often leads
students to ask MSA representatives
to justify the $6.27-per-semester
student government fee they pay
with tuition.
While the Conservative Coalition
(CC) - which headed MSA last
year - ran on a platform to make
the assembly more responsible to the
students, apathy still pervades the
student population.
The assembly passed a proposal
last year which caps the MSA fee at
$6.27 unless an increase or decrease
is voted upon by the student body.
"Anybody who votes against this
is afraid of the voters," said LSA
Rep. Rob Van Houweling.
But some MSA representatives
saw the proposal as a sure-fire
method of crippling the assembly's
power.
Natural Resources Rep. Nena
Shaw said, "If we limit the fee, we
are severely limiting what we can do
for students, and I think we should
be wary of this."
During the winter elections, vot-
ers passed the referendum which
mandated the fee and the mechanism
for changing it.
The University Board of Regents
recently approved a $6.27-per-
semester MSA fee for next year's
tuition.
MSA's main achievement last-
year was to facilitate the opening of
a 24-hour library on campus.
The Undergraduate Library's
hours were extended.
The move to institute the 24-hour
library did not meet opposition from
any sector of the University.
"That's the amazing thing. No
one at the assembly, no one in the
administration seemed to have any
MSA President Ede Fox (left) debates important issues with candidate Scott Gast at a pre-election panel
discussion.
opposition to it," said former MSA
President James Green. "Everyone
was in support of it as a concept. It
was just a question of what bureau-
cratic channels to go through."
Green added, "I'm very excited
about this. I really believe that this is
an example of what a student gov-
ernment should be working on and
it's the kind of issue I hope MSA
will pursue in the future."
One of CC's - and Green's -
stated goals was to make the assem-
bly more fiscally responsible. MSA
had been in debt when CC took over,
yet after hiring bookkeeper Sarah
Flynn from a pool of 30 candidates,
the assembly seems to be heading in
the right direction.
The assembly decides not only its
own budget, but also those of
Student Legal Services and the Ann
Arbor Tenants' Union (AATU).
Last year, the assembly raised
controversy after cutting AATU's
budget in half. Assembly representa-
tives said the cut was justified be-
cause AATU needed to start becom-
ing fiscally responsible and refrain-
ing from participating in political
activities.
MSA also cut the School of
Information and Library Studies
(SILS) seat from the assembly. Since
Rackham - the University's grad-
uate school -- gives the diplomas
for SILS, the seat was added to the
Rackham body.
But current SILS Rep.
Christopher Thiry will stay on the
assembly until fall elections, when
his term is up.
Constituents who want to address
the assembly may do so after roll
call and approval of the agenda and
minutes during MSA's Tuesday 7:30
p.m. meetings.
Students have spoken to the as-
sembly to urge its action on issues
ranging from deputization to the
University's interim speech code.
MSA representatives unanimously
disapproved of the code.
However, MSA has not been as
quick to follow other constituents'
concerns. In fact, MSA itself was
cast disapproval after one
representative called a constituent a
bitch last March.
While some MSA representatives
saw the incident as a manifestation
of CC's continuous ignoring of
racial and gender discrimination, CC
members saw it as a political ploy
designed to sway voters immediately
before the winter presidential
elections.
Despite the reasons underlying
the incident, change has been ush-
ered into the assembly. Progressive
Party - the campus liberal contin-
gent - candidates Ede Fox and
Hunter Van Valkenburgh narrowly
beat out CC candidates Scott Gast
and Beth O'Connor for the MSA
presidency.
Less than 10 percent of the
University's student population
voted in the election.
After her election, Fox said, "The
agenda of MSA is going to change
to a more progressive one, more pro-
active."
Progressive Party candidates
have frequently criticized CC for
kowtowing to the University
administration.
Fox and the Progressive Party
said they plan to change this
direction.
But they have a battle ahead of
them. While the Progressive Party
now has hold of the assembly
leadership, CC still retains most of
the assembly seats - 20, with 16
Progressive Party representatives
and 11 independents.
Additionally, CC still controls
four of the five MSA committee
chair positions. Most of MSA's
work is done within these commit-
tees - Budget Priorities, Campus
Governance, Communications,
External Relations, and Rules and
Elections.
The first resolution to be passed
by the new assembly applauded the
men's basketball team for its success
in reaching the NCAA Champion-
ship.
This unanimous approval may be
the last thing the politically-charged
MSA agrees on for a long while.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
A student looks over his schedule as he leaves the CRISP room. If he's
lucky, he won't have to come back until its time to register for next
semester..
"i"
eCollaborates internally and externally,
with various schools, colleges, and agencies to
facilitate the development and implementation
of positive initiatives.
*Monitors programs and activities to assess
their effectiveness and whether they are mak-
ing positive contributions to the university's
move toward becoming a multicultural uni-
versity.
"Disseminates information that supports
the development and implementation of pro-
grams and activities that demonstrate a com-
mitment to diversity.
The Office of Minority Affairs' mission is to
work with all segments of the University
and external community to improve the
quality of life for people of color.
To accomplish this mission
The Office of Minority Affairs:
*Examines and identifies specific strate-
gies and delivery systems geared to en-
hance the prospects for increased repre-
sentation and participation of people of
color.
*Consults with various constituencies,
i.e., deans, directors, students, faculty, and
administrators to work to remove institu-
tional barriers that prevent people of color
from becoming full participants in the uni-
versity community.
OMA
is a resource for You!!
Charles D. Moody, Sr.
Vice Provost for Minority Affairs
John Matlock
Director
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