MSU's undergraduate student government is different than most of its relatives. We have a bicameral student government and award special seats to minorities and interest groups.
ASMSU is, however, similar to student governments at other universities, and is also like the real government in that very few students vote in its elections.
This last election was slightly different. There were more competitive seats than usual - a sign of a healthy democracy. Voter turnout quadrupled and people showed a genuine interest in the race. It wasn't that voters woke up to their civic duty; rather, it was the effect of campus groups.
If you weren't accosted by an Eco member pushing the green energy tax during election week, then you must have slept through all your classes. Though I voted against the tax and think it's insane that student tax money should fund nonstudent, off-campus services, I'm glad the Eco people were out there. They were exercising their rights and in the process motivating others to take part in the civic process.
The MSU College Republicans also got involved in the election. Certain ASMSU leaders came out in favor of tuition increases to the Legislature. Gongwer News Service quoted our leaders as saying attempts to limit tuition increases were a "crusade against Michigan's public colleges and universities." The College Republicans disagree.
We're for fiscal responsibility. We want the university to look at ways to cut costs and save money - the same way state government and private businesses are - instead of a knee-jerk tuition hike. So we decided to seek out candidates who supported our views and endorsed them. We promoted them to the public and our membership because we knew they would fight for this issue that we care about.
The Academic Assembly's current chairman Matt Clayson was upset at that. He told The State News he would "rather see ASMSU disband than become a political puppet." He's not alone in that belief.
The All University Elections Committee acted fairly but harshly and struck down about 60 candidates who had been supported by the College Democrats and College Republicans. Effectively, they temporarily crushed student government at MSU.
I am confident the All-University Student Judiciary will hear the appeals and reinstate all the candidates as none of them personally violated the election code. The larger issue of whether student groups should be involved in ASMSU is still going to be debated.
I say the more the merrier. Clayson might think we are radical special interest groups looking to rock the boat, but that's just not the case. The College Republicans includes hundreds of members from every background. The Democrats are the same way. Our purpose is to get involved as a group in elections and, through our actions, get more people involved as individuals. The results of our involvement are positive - turnout and interest in elections are both up.
There are a variety of reasons that entrenched interests oppose groups supporting candidates. Clayson fears it will make ASMSU a "political puppet." For Nick McVay and the All University Elections Committee, it complicates their jobs. For others, it presents a challenge to their own position if they don't get the support of the slate.
As this paper opined last week, "If campus groups are willing to endorse these candidates, they would obviously be welcome additions to the student government." For some people, the filtering effect our support has is a pain. The involvement of any group in the process will, as it does in national elections, tick off another group and those individuals who desire the group's support and don't receive it. The sum composite of all the groups competing in the electoral system, though, is our vibrant liberal democracy.
America is not a country free of factions. Our founding fathers realized democracy could not be freed from factions without installing despotism and destroying democracy (in a sense, what ASMSU has done by disqualifying the candidates). Instead, our founders envisioned a system where democracy was its own solution. One faction would be sent to compete against another to produce a government that is more mainstream, more balanced and more tempered.
Just as our national polity is strengthened by political competition, so too is ASMSU. The more interested we make students in campus government, the better the chance they will vote for the big races in 2004.
Jason C. Miller is chairman of the MSU College Republicans. Reach him at mill1082@msu.edu.
