12 The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 19, 1999 FRIDAYFOCUS ... ,' w --r-. . s-.- - - ., :. : _. .! - - -:, - £, - - i . - .. ., ,, . ,. . ,, - - ,. , _ ..._.. _ r _. . , v 0 Standing at the forefront of this semester's Michigan Student Assembly elections are three slates of six students, who claim they have what it takes to lead a group that represents the entire student body - more than 35,000 people. These students are competing for the positions of MSA president and vice president. Issues pertaining to tuition, a student regent and even national and interna- tional politics are shared concerns for all three slates, among additional small scale projects. Although party lines may seem as if they are distinctly drawn, the slate that wins MSA's executive posts will have to spend their term working with their campaign friends and'foes. The Candidates Among the three parties vyingfor executive positions, the Students' Party, now in its third year, claims its successful experience will work in its favor during elections. "We're people who have consistently followed through on what we've said we're going to do," said Students' Party presidential candidate and current MSA Vice President Sarah Chopp. "We have already exhibited initiative and are very active on campus," added Students' Party vice presidential candidate and current LSA Rep. Sumeet Karnik. During her time as a representative and as vice president, Chopp has worked on the External Relations Committee and the Student Regent Task Force. Also campaigning for votes is the The Defend Affirmative Action Party. The party originated during the 1998 win- ter term, after the formation of the groups By Any Means Necessary and United for Action the pre- vious year. Party mem- bers captured six assemblyl seats in its sec-r ond election as a party during the 1998 Fall term. Running on the DAAP's executive slate this semester are Rackham Rep.' Jessica Curtin and L SA am WsXt t corpac Sivie. Rep. Erika Dowdel for * ce tua de rid tht t ode o! St et assembly president and vice IIEta En ti~ ads t onbtitun~etwir t studc8 , president respectfully. ti s ga sik f deft eprerttia N t ri "Our concept of MSA is one of a fighting student union, rather than simply a service-geared organization," " Curtin said. The third contender in this semester's MSA elec- tions is the newly-founded Blue Party. Running for the party's executive slate are MSA Treasurer BramElias and former MSA Rep. Andy Coulouris, for president and vice president, respectfully. Elias and Coulouris, both former members of the Students' Party founded the Blue Party in January after Coulouris said he considered breaking away from the Students' Party in November 1997. "We know where we want to go," Coulouris said, describing the formation of the party. Despite differences in party philosophies, each group's executive slate claims to be working in the student's interest. Students' Party The Students' Party's executive slate has put together five main points that will define its list of objectives for the upcoming year. Toping the list is the importance of improving MSA's outreach to student groups within the University. "We feel that we can actively incorporate student groups into MSA because we have a good understanding of how students groups are run, due to the fact that we have been involved with many student organizations," Karnik said. With the input received from various student groups around campus Chopp and Karnik said they hope to improve MSA's relationshipg with the student body and bridge the gaps between student organizations. "We want to encourage student activism. Once our voices are loud, maybe they will be heard," Chopp said. The duo said it would also like1 to increase the availability of concentration information and help students decide on their career paths, by instituting a concentration evaluations and student mentors program. "We want to make the process of choosing a major to be based on informed deci- sions," Chopp said. This program would bene- fit the mentors and the mentees. While the mentees gain valuable information per- taining to their future goals, the mentors would earn credit toward their degree program - according to the plans drawn up by the party. r r th dt t groupt The next topic on the party's agenda - electronic lobbying on the Internet - Another program that the Students' Party hopes to develop is called "Freshman Forgiveness." The program would give students the opportunity to retake a class, and although the grade received the first time around would remain on the students' transcripts, the second grade would be the one figured into the Student Grade Point Average. Most of the Big 12 schools have already adopted pro- grams similar to the one that the party is proposing. "If the student is willing to invest the time and the money into taking the class again, they should receive some form of recognition," Karnik said. The party's executive slate is also concerned with the level of support available to interna- tional students. Chopp and Karnik said they would like to create a foreign language support group on campus computer sites to aid students in vis- iting Websites with foreign language options. They also said they want to develop an international student network, which would work to strengthen multicultural under- standing among student groups on campus. "The only thing that international stu- dents have in common is that they're not from America," Chopp said. In addition to the main focus of their agenda, the Chopp and Karnik said they would also like to gain a clearer under- 11 V&idW firm, standing of the tuition b eekr a nati system. epesent and "Tuition should remain npOeha as low as possible without compromising the quality of our campus," Karnik said. Chopp and Karnik said they are proposing to work with administration to keep tuition as low as possible. The Code of Student Conduct is another area that the party said they would like to work on. Chopp and Karnik said they would like to see an academic code replace the current student code of conduct. The new Code would be modeled after the Code that the College of Engineering currently uses. "The focus of the Code should be based on Ou S forming a community based on integrity," Chopp said. "Currently, the Code is an unjust system for the accuser and the accused," Karnik said. Fndu t.' In the arena of politics, the Students' Party me- r3 andMSA. bers said they would like to help increase student l 021 x gWnt awareness about issues that affect everyone. "If the student group feels that something is important to them, even though we know our limits, we are excited to help them lobby their local, state and federal governments," Chopp said. "If a student group is concerned with it, it's a student issue and an MSA issue." Defend Affirmative Action Party DAAP's executive slate stands behind a political platform that is based on grass roots activism on campus and throughout the nation. Lead on the party's platform is fighting to maintain the practice of Affirmative Action at the University and at other schools nationwide. "In California right now what we are looking at is the reversal of the attack on Affirmative Action, which is the first place it was attacked," Curtin said. Curtin and Dowdell are also interested in overturning decisions made in Texas and California, states that have abolished Affirmative Action in public universi- ties. The duo also said they intend to abolish the Code of Student Conduct. "It func- tions to give the administration more leverage to act selectively against students." Curtin insisted that the only way the Code can be abolished is by building a stu- dent movement against it at the University. "We just have to increase the level of student organization around it," Curtin said. Ceasing increases in tuition across the state also takes a priority in Curtin and Dowdell's goals as MSA executive officer candidates. Included in the party's platform are fighting racism and sexism on campus, which according to the party's plat- form involves investigating such actions. Another plank in the duo's platform is creat- ing an end to "police harassment of student parties." An overarching theme in this slate's ft platform is an effort to build a new civil Elias said the four points can also be called "promises." The first includes expanding and institutional- ' izing the SCS. The idea for the Student Coursepack Service, which mate- rialized earlier this semester, originated with the Students' Party during the 1997 MSA Winter elections, Elias said. Elias added that he led the assem- bly to resume the project in the Fall of _ 1998. The Blue A Party's exec- utive plat- form also wants to the Code. "The code, is still in flux," Elias said, cit- ing the departure of Vice President .. for Student Affairs ve Actlm at the Unrive c~y.: Maureen Hartford as one of the reasons ig1t for stems' (fghts, code negotiations have tStatut de~t~t . lessened. Although Elias said be believes the code P F should not be in place, he added that "MSA cannot compromise, it needs tokeep trying to be proactive and make positive changes." Also on their agenda is creating a direct constituency. It would be a pro- gram where "every student has a representative," Coulouris said. ie explained that the idea for a direct constituency originated with for- mer MSA Rep. Ryan Friedrichs. "If they have a problem, they can contact their rep.," Coulouris said. "It's about accountability," The fourth objective on the Blue Party's executive platform is electing a student regent. Chair of the Yes! Yes! Yes! campaign and of the Student Regent Task Force, Elias led progressive, but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to obtain a student regent. Elias said the Blue party is interested in establishing a student liaison, which headmits is not as ideal as a student regent. "We are where we think we can get a level of student representation on the board of regents," Elias said. Looking back on the semester, Elias said, "the first half of this MSA term, might have been the most successful MSA has been." "We hit a brick wall when all of the sudden issues like Iraq came up," Elias said. "It's silly for us to take a stance on issues like that, but it's disrespectful for us not to do anything about it," Coulouris said. When international issues are brought to MSA, Elias said, "next year, we say the proposition is to go through the External Relations Committee." The Blue Party duo said the ERC should assist students in lobbying efforts in Lansing to address nation and international issues. Coulouris said he believes the assembly's role in influencing tuition includes being a conduit between students and Lansing ... so MSA facili- tates their voice being heard," Coulouris said. rights movement. "There is a new movement in this country," Curtin said. "It started with Affirmative Action and it is also a fight against bombs in Iraq and sweatshop labor. Curtin added that ,she believes MSA should be in the forefront of this movement. Addressing controversy sur- rounding a resolution DAAP presented to the assembly in January, condemning UN sanc- tions placed on Iraq, Curtin said, "We're very, very proud of the resolution." Similar resolutions were passed earlier this month at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. "It's something that moved across the country that we started here," :'Curtin said. S ................. .. .......... . ...... ... - K:_ ER .. - Y t .;: .. .. f:: ra.;Y. cy. t3h . 3G 1..,,'ii x a"" tx? akai+X . .#"':: rc+la.al t: siEr ti! t s atsY s iiii tf.. ..... _.