Associated Students of Michigan State University
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| Image:ASMSU Small Logo.png | |
| The Associated Students of Michigan State University | |
| Founded: | 1991 |
| Purpose: | Undergraduate student government |
| Structure: | Decentralized, nonpartisan, bicameral legislative body |
| Tax rate: | US$16.75 per semester (As of 2006) |
| Assemblies: | Academic Assembly Student Assembly |
| Turnout | 8% (In 2006 election) |
| Address: | 307 Student Services Bldg. Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48824 |
| Phone: | 517-355-8266 |
| Fax: | 517-353-3132 |
| Website: | http://www.asmsu.msu.edu/ |
The Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU) is the undergraduate student government of Michigan State University. It is unusual amongst university student governments for its decentralized bicameral structure, its nonpartisan politics, and the relative ease of getting elected to one of its posts.
Contents |
History
Student Council and Student Board
The roots of student government at Michigan State University date back to 1908 when students formed the Student Council (now Academic Assembly) to curb bitter class disputes between freshmen and sophomores. Although the Student Council initially served as a judiciary body, it emerged as a student advocate group that collected a tax from students in order to sponsor campus activities such as dances and pep rallies. However, by the mid-20th century, the Student Council’s power eroded as a rival student government looked to take over its duties.
In 1965, seven of MSU’s Major Governing Groups, representing students living in Greek houses, residence halls, co-ops, campus apartments, and off-campus housing, banded together to form a new student government named the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU). The new student government had two parts: a legislative body called the Student Board (now Student Assembly), and an executive cabinet that used student tax dollars for such services as concerts, student events, free lawyers, and other services. By this time, the moribund Student Council had devolved into a faculty advisory body, leaving ASMSU Student Board as the dominant voice of Michigan State’s undergraduate student body.
The political activism of the early 1970s would soon add a new dynamic to the relationship between the two rival student governments. Students in the early seventies wanted a voice on MSU’s Academic Council, which at the time included only administration and faculty. The students got their wish, but the provost gave the thirty-some new seats not to the dominant ASMSU Student Board, but to the struggling Student Council. Thus by the 1980s, the Student Council had power with little money, and the ASMSU Student Board had money with little power.
The "Four Horsemen"
In the late eighties, the Student Council continued to struggle as a student governing body. Its operating budget remained small, and only 15 percent of its members were student elected, with the majority appointed by deans. Talks began to combine Student Council and ASMSU Student Board into one organization, and in 1992, reforms brought the most radical change to ASMSU since its inception.
A group calling themselves the "Four Horsemen", which included the ASMSU Student Board chairperson, the ASMSU cabinet’s Executive Director, the Student Council’s chair, and the president of the Residence Halls Association, met secretly in 1991 to discuss bringing the underdog Student Council under the ASMSU umbrella. They came up with a "three-for-three" compromise, wherein the Student Council traded three of its Academic Council seats for a constitutionally-guaranteed 3.5 % of ASMSU’s budget. Thus the eighty-three year old Student Council became the ASMSU Academic Assembly, representing students’ academic concerns to the university administration, and the ASMSU Student Board became the ASMSU Student Assembly, representing "student life" issues. In practice, the two Assemblies continued to function as autonomous student governments, but sharing the same resources allowed them to cooperate with each other. Thus since 1992, ASMSU has functioned with this loose bicameral structure.
Bicameralism
While in theory there is a clear division of labor between the two Assemblies, in practice they are often "stepping on each other’s toes". Many issues can be argued as either "academic" or "student life" issues. Thus ASMSU created a Steering Committee, consisting of the chair, internal vice chair, external vice chair, and two appointed representatives from each Assembly. To moderate between the two Assemblies, the committee is chaired by the joint Chief of Staff — the ASMSU Association Director. The Steering Committee decides which Assembly gets to debate a hotly-disputed bill, with the Association Director voting in the case of a tie. Occasionally, the Steering Committee may also decide to make important issues into a joint resolution, such as the bill that successfully lobbied for a day off on Martin Luther King Day in 1998.
Structure
Below is a simplified flowchart of the ASMSU stucture. More detailed flowcharts of each assembly exist on the pages for Academic Assembly and Student Assembly.
| Academic Assembly 1 chair, 2 vice chairs 26 elected seats 14 appointed seats | <math>\rightarrow</math> | Steering Committee Association Director 1 chair, 2 vice chairs & 4 representatives from each assembly | <math>\leftarrow</math> | Student Assembly 1 chair, 4 vice chairs 21 elected seats 18 appointed seats | |||
| <math>\updownarrow</math>
| <math>\downarrow</math>
| <math>\searrow</math>
| <math>\downarrow</math>
| <math>\downarrow</math>
| <math>\swarrow</math>
| <math>\downarrow</math>
| <math>\downarrow</math>
|
| Academic Council | DUGBA | Central Staff | Boards & Councils Programming Board Funding Board Freshman Class Council Senior Class Council | Departments Legislative Affairs Community Affairs Legal Services Red Cedar Log Yearbook | |||
| Executive Committee Standing Committees Advisory Committees Athletic Council | Human Resources Racial, Ethnic & Progressive Affairs Constituent Activism Digital & Graphic Marketing | Comptroller Business Office | |||||
Source: ASMSU Website (PDF File}
Controversy, Criticism and Evolution
Both the Academic Assembly and the Student Assembly award unelected seats to racial, ethnic, and progressive groups. While there is a constant minority that believe these seats should be taken away or reduced, proposals to limit or remove these CORES & COPS seats have failed — most recently in 2004. Debates have raged about which groups deserve seats and which do not. In 2005, the Jewish Student Union received a seat on ASMSU after being denied in 2001.
The 2003 ASMSU elections were one of the most controversial since the formation of the organization. Well over half of the candidates were disqualified after they were endorsed by the College Republicans and/or the MSU Democrats in electronic mailing list emails. The election code at the time said that candidates could not campaign together and could not seek or accept endorsements from political groups. Most candidates were reinstated after appealing their disqualification, however, in response to the election, representatives formed a constitutional convention and changed the code.
Additionally, some students have criticized ASMSU for not having enough electoral participation to gain a student mandate. Turnout since 2001 has hovered between 3 and 17 percent.
In spring of 2005, the students of Michigan State rejected a proposed tax increase to fund a scholarship, but approved a tax increase to fund general programs and increase staff in 2006. Tax increases have found mixed support in recent years, with students rejecting and approving tax hikes in consecutive years (2002 and 2003, or 2005 and 2006 respectively).
Image:Student Services Building.jpg
