Current President Kiran Samra announced on Wednesday she will not be seeking reelection, but has decided to run for Vice President for Special Projects. She will face off against current Vice President for University Programming Jamayl Martin .
“I think that within this position ... I have the ability to make a great impact; I’ve been doing that since ... I’ve stepped into ASMSU and I will continue to do that until I step out,” Samra said.
Elections will be held April 16 and 17 .
If elected to the new role, Samra said she plans to continue strengthening relationships with students and organizations at MSU, to finish her plans of creating an ASMSU mobile app and start an assessment program for staff and Office of the President positions.
Only two candidates will be running for president: current Vice President for Internal Administration Teresa Bitner and Lyman Briggs College Representative James Conwell .
If elected, Bitner said she would focus on student outreach on and off campus.
“We need to be innovative,” Bitner said. “We need to integrate into the neighborhoods ... (and collaborate) with other organizations and even local businesses, getting our information up in their places.”
If he is elected, Conwell said he wants to focus on legislation and other university policies that would affect MSU students and thinks it is ASMSU’s responsibility to advocate for them.
"(ASMSU’s) struggle is really showing the student body what it is that we do,” he said. “I want students to be involved with (policy) issues and the city too.”
Conwell also is running for Vice President for Academic Affairs .
The most contested seat for the election is Vice President for Internal Affairs, which has four candidates: Kathryn Maass, Jamayl Martin, Amber Addrow-Pierson and Evan Schrage .
Schrage, who is also running to be College of Social Science representative, said he plans to reach out to more students via social media.
“It’s going to require some work from the (general assembly),” Schrage said. “There are other things we can do (besides town halls) like coffee hours inside individual college buildings.”
Samra said she is pleased with all of the candidates running and is looking forward to the election.
“I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” Samra said. “I think both presidential candidates are very qualified ... (and I’m) excited to work under the leadership of either of them.”
