In an effort to encourage student activism on campus, the university’s undergraduate student government is looking to be held more responsible for its actions.
ASMSU’s Student and Academic assemblies will be considering a joint resolution next week that makes the referendum process more accessible to MSU students. A referendum overturns an ASMSU decision.
“(The measure) makes ASMSU more accountable by decreasing the number of people it takes to reverse a decision ASMSU makes,” said Jack Teasdale, College of Social Science representative for the Student Assembly.
Because the proposal is a joint resolution and requests a change to the ASMSU constitution, it must be approved by both assemblies and by students through the ASMSU general election in March.
The procedure for a student-initiated referendum to overturn a student government decision, as stated in ASMSU’s constitution, requires submitting a petition with the signatures of 10 percent of MSU’s student population, or about 3,800 students. A special student election is then held and the referendum would pass or fail based on a simple majority vote.
The first resolve of the proposed amendment would lower the number to 1,000 signatures. The second resolve requires the referendum ballot to receive a minimum of 1,000 total votes or it will be considered void.
“We wanted to make it easier for students to bring issues against us if we did something wrong,” said Shaun Phillips, the College of Engineering representative for Academic Assembly.
Phillips added the resolution would also motivate ASMSU to be more considerate of students.
“We think we should have more accountability with students,” he said. “I think it will help us to be more inclined to do stuff for students.”
But Mike Ehlers, a College of Social Science representative for Student Assembly, said the minimum vote requirement makes the referendum process even more difficult.
“I feel that the way it was written raises the burden on students rather than lowering it,” Ehlers said.
Yet, Ehlers said the suggestion to decrease petition signatures follows the resolution’s main intent, but 1,000 may be too steep a number for voter turnout on a referendum.
Last year, ASMSU’s general election had a voter turnout of 2.2 percent - just more than 500 students.
“The first resolve (is) a step in the right direction,” he said. “But, the second resolve requires a voter turnout that’s higher than any voter turnout we get in our general elections.”
