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What MSA can do to boost perennially sub-par voter participation in student government elections
By Alison Go I Managing Editor
rudging from residence hall to residence hall last March, Jesse
Levine shook hands, talked shop and maybe even kissed some
babies during his quest for the student government presidency
Levine spent $400 out of pocket on posters and flyers and ded-
icated more than 90 hours to his campaign. After all was said
and done, Levine, who impressively took 57 percent of the
vote, was also part of one of the most unimpressive
student government elections in recent memory, with
only 9.4 percent of the eligible student body participating.
would make students care more. But
Matt Nolan, MSA president from 2001-
02 and a current law student, thinks that
once MSA effectively tackles the every-
day issues, then students will start to
"buy into" the idea that MSA will affect
things that really matter. Impressive vot-
ing percentage numbers are a result of
a strong student government - not the
cause, Nolan said.
Not surprisingly, making students
care is easier said than done, and Wag-
ner, a self-professed cynic when it comes
to "fixing" MSA, sees a difficult path
ahead for those dedicated to revamping
student government.
Creating a brand
28 students were asked, "What Is MSA?"
Seventeen had no idea, eight said either
"Michigan Student Assembly" or the
"Michigan Student Association" with
little else to add, while three had an inti-
mate knowledge of the institution. Hard-
ly an official survey or even a good one,
but telling nonetheless.
If MSA can't muster up enough pub-
lic relations to get even 50 percent of the
student body to recognize its name, then
it can hardly be a representative body for
students to voice their concerns to. Under
this system, most students don't know
where to go even if they had concerns.
Levine downplays this lack of expo-
sure, but the fact is, there is still room
for improvement.
Events like Diag Day, where MSA
members stand outside for hours talking
and handing out goodies, and the omni-
present flyering and chalking on cam-
pus, do indeed put a dent in the relative
anonymity that MSA operates under.
But to take it a step further, Nolan
suggests investing more time and money
into communicating with students. "I
think the rewards would be huge," Nolan
said. "Government doesn't work unless
candidates can communicate with its
constituents."
While Nolan speculates that MSA's
hesitation to invest in PR has to do with
its reluctance to annoy the student orga-
nizations that might otherwise receive the
funds, student government has also been
taking positive strides toward visibility.
To make change and get noticed, Levine
said, "we need to do something big."
"Big" is the Ludacris concert that,
rumor has it, will be at Hill Auditorium
this semester.
And whether there are some grum-
blings that MSA should be deciding
between the likes of John Stewart or
Ann Coulter, rather than Kanye West
and Ludacris, for who to bring to cam-
pus, the fact remains that either choice or
all could be the big flashy publicity that
MSA needs.
"It's going to give people more of a
mainstream understanding of what MSA
does," said Melton Lee, a former MSA
representative and current NAACP polit-
ical action committee chair.
Alleviate turnover
s MSA plays with its image, or
lack thereof, it also has as many
hurdles to overcome internally.
Every student group deals with
constant turnover - its members
and leaders graduate, usually
fter one, sometimes two, years.
This problem is especially acute in relation to
MSA's effectiveness.
When campaign season starts, both in Octo-
ber for mid-term elections and in March for the
presidential one, platform promises are thrown
out left and right, and many never come to frui-
tion. And if they do ever happen, it's not usually
until after the promise-maker (or makers) have
since graduated and left.
The language requirement change is one
example of this. For some time now, the LSA
student government has been trying to push
through alternations to the language require-
ment. LSA-SG has pushed to allow students to
take two semesters of two different languages,
instead of four semesters for one. The change
was presented to the curriculum committee
more than two years ago and has yet to be voted
on. On top of that, the research for the language
While a lack of competition contributed
to the sobering numbers, percentages from
the past five years have rarely exceeded 20
percent and usually hover around 15.
But for all the complaints of student
apathy, it's not as if this university's stu-
dent government election is a nationwide
bottom feeder. Almost every school con-
tacted - Michigan State, Northwestern,
Ohio State and others - had comparable
election numbers for their respective stu-
dent governments. A common sentiment
from student government leaders was that
students could really care less about the
whole operation.
"For the average student, there's no
reason to vote," said Stuart Wagner, a for-
mer MSA representative. "In order to get
a student to vote, they need a reason."
But election numbers don't tell the
whole story. There's nothing that says
that higher percentages will create a
more effective student government, and,
conversely, that a more effective MSA
S
troll into a crowded Univer-
sity building at any given
time and ask random stu-
dents about MSA. For the
most part, you'll get blank
stares.
For instance, on a recent
Thursday night at the Michigan Union,