After the Association of Michigan Universities conference this weekend at MSU, some of ASMSU's delegates said the association is an ineffective body that doesn't accomplish more than ASMSU can do by itself.
"There wasn't a whole lot to be gained from this conference," said Tim Howes, a representative for the College of Engineering in ASMSU's Academic Assembly and an AMU delegate. "Nothing goes on there that we couldn't handle on our own - it's kind of unnecessary."
AMU is an alliance of student governments from Michigan's 15 public universities that lobbies for higher education issues before policy and lawmakers. It meets four times a year to discuss higher education issues.
ASMSU's two assemblies allocated $8,500 to host this weekend's conference. Hosting duties rotate between the Michigan universities. MSU last hosted in September 2002.
"The conference wasn't completely worthless," said Andrew Schepers, Student Assembly chairperson. "(AMU) has the potential to do more things, but still more could have gone on during the weekend concerning legislation and other issues."
ASMSU could resolve many of the issues addressed in AMU by itself, but the association is important because it gives smaller schools a way to be heard, he said.
But should MSU student taxpayers be held responsible for helping smaller universities through AMU? Schepers says yes. Helping Michigan's other universities improves higher education for everyone, he said.
"Why not spend money, because raising higher education throughout the state also raises what we have," he said. "Coming together with other universities gives strength in numbers.
"It helps give other schools an avenue for their voice."
Schepers said AMU's September conferences generally don't pass much legislation because new student representatives don't have a full understanding of how AMU works.
Josh Rabinowitz, a representative for the Residence Halls Association for ASMSU's Student Assembly and an AMU delegate, said he questions whether the relatively young association is able to lobby effectively.
"Their intentions are good, but I'm not necessarily sure they have the wherewithal to execute them," he said.
He added that debate on bills during the AMU conference kept more legislation from being discussed.
ASMSU Academic Assembly External Vice Chairperson Vinay Prasad said the troubles with AMU involve the differences of each university, especially since AMU requires a unanimous vote to pass legislation.
"In many cases, the trouble is that some of the discussion leaders don't understand that if someone is steadfast on an issue, you need to change the issue to get stuff done," he said. "If someone's not interested, you have to change topics."
