Although MSU's undergraduate student government doesn't truly govern anything, it is a tax-collecting student body charged with representing its constituents in the university's governance process and therefore, has an obligation to remain accountable to its members.
On Tuesday, ASMSU's Academic Assembly was not accountable. While it didn't vote in private, the elected body closed its electoral process of its chairperson and two vice chairpersons.
Nick McVay, the organization's comptroller, said ASMSU had the right and obligation to close its doors so representatives could engage in more effective debate by not having to be concerned that their dialogue was recorded.
"It's impeding on the democratic process," he said. "It's prohibiting from people freely speaking their minds without it being printed in a newspaper."
However, it is the organization's closed meeting that impedes the democratic process. In the United States, the democratic process is conducted in the open.
In the Untied States, elected bodies are accountable to their constituents.
Some argue ASMSU is justified in its decision to discuss potential chairperson and vice chairperson candidates in private because it's a personnel matter.
But it is not. The process of elected officials electing a leader from their ranks is a public matter.
Secrets should not have to be kept from the organization's taxpayers in regard to its leadership. The public has a right to know if there are concerns over the character of MSU representatives to the administration.
Matt Weingarden, ASMSU Student Assembly chairperson, said the organization is a private group and not a public body and therefore not subject to Michigan's Open Meetings Act.
But ASMSU is a public tax-collecting organization at a public tax-funded university.
Therefore, MSU's undergraduate student government is accountable to its constituents.
"We are not a governing body," Weingarden said.
If that is the case, ASMSU owes a lot of students their $13-per-semester tax back.
One could argue the organization falls under the umbrella of a 1999 Michigan Supreme Court ruling that exempted the state's constitutionally-created universities - MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University - from Michigan's Open Meetings Act.
But the court's unjust decision shouldn't be cited as being able to trickle down to the undergraduate student organization.
Even if it could, the elected members should see through their moral responsibility not to hide behind the unethical interpretation of state law.
If ASMSU officials don't want to stand up to the duties of being elected representatives, they should find something else to get involved with while at MSU and let more responsible leaders handle the group's tax revenue.
