ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, announced Monday during its first general assembly meeting after elections the merger of the organizations programming and funding boards.
“We think that is really going to help encourage general assembly members to hold personal college specific events to really increase engagement to their constituents as much as possible,” said ASMSU president Kiran Samra.
“That’s important also because by essentially getting rid of one VP position, we are saving a lot of money,” Samra said. “That’s essentially one less salary you are giving.”
Another important note from the meeting was the renewal of ASMSU’s tax, which was voted for by the student body this year.
“Every three years, ASMSU’s tax is up for renewal,” Samra said. “So basically, we’re the only student, self-instated tax in the Big Ten.”
This tax is reviewed every three years by the student body, who determines whether ASMSU is doing a good enough job to receive money, Samra said.
The student government also approved the appointment of students to the representative openings for ASMSU.
One of the appointed students, arts and humanities sophomore Crystal Gause, was the first person to ever represent the Residential College of Arts and Humanities, or RCAH, on ASMSU’s general assembly.
“Crystal is being appointed to the RCAH and they haven’t had a representation here at ASMSU, so we’re glad that we could get a representative from them on the board,” said ASMSU Vice President for Internal Administration Teresa Bitner.
For Gause, the chance to represent RCAH for ASMSU is an exciting opportunity and she’s glad that she is the first to do so.
“It’s really exciting,” Gause said. “It’s kind of saddening that the position hasn’t been taken in the past because we are a fairly new college, but I’m excited to be able to make much needed changes to the RCAH.”
All in all, there were eight students appointed from RCAH, the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Music and the College of Natural Science.
