“COGS, as well as ASMSU, were both sent (memorandums) earlier in the year, requesting they align their business practices with the university and to move their money back to campus accounts, along with other actions,” university spokesman Jason Cody said.

While there were not enough representatives at the meeting to vote on the resolution, COGS President Stefan Fletcher said the organization is working toward avoiding freezing accounts.

“One of the things that I have pushed on with the administration is that there would be no … freezing of accounts… because that is not the governance that should be there between a student government and an administration,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher said at the start of the meeting that with reorganization comes the change of the student government’s status from a 501c4 to a 501c3 organization. Vice President for Finances and Treasurer Mark Haas said this new status confirms COGS’s alignment with the university, giving the graduate student government more tax exemption and getting it under the university’s insurance policies.

“When we came to the point where we tried aligning the student government with the business manual procedures, we got in touch with them saying, ‘OK, what works for you, what does not work for you?’” Haas said.

Haas explained that this transition also would protect the student governments financially in case of emergencies.

“The popular view is that student governments are part of the university,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Denise Maybank said, adding that the university is just turning the relationship between the student governments into a formal relationship by asking them to align with MSU’s policies.

Fletcher also mentioned COGS wanted to make sure that the student government would be able to keep Business Office Manager Rebecca Mizell in her position.

Maybank said she talked with Human Resources to safeguard Mizell’s position, adding that she will personally look to that.