By deciding to spend nearly $7,000 to gauge student opinion of its representative government, ASMSU has made a smart move.
To get the student feedback they need, the group will survey undergraduate students on how ASMSU could do a better job representing student interests. Outside of offering blue books and free law counsel, undergraduate students might be unfamiliar with the workings of their own government.
The bill to conduct the survey barely passed (only by a 1.1 percent margin) and some ASMSU members have called the $7,000 tab excessive.
All in all, $7,000 represents a small fraction of ASMSU's total operational budget, which typically hovers in the neighborhood of $800,000. What ASMSU is doing - reaching out to the students it's charged with representing - is a good idea, regardless of the price tag.
What's $7,000 if ASMSU could end up saving more than that? Small potatoes.
If we need to spend some money to retool student government, then so be it. Anytime representative government becomes complacent on any level, an internal audit of the problem works for the constituency. By toying with the idea of rewriting its own constitution, ASMSU has done just that.
If you're an undergraduate at MSU, you'll have to take this seriously for ASMSU's survey to work. ASMSU has decided to reach out to listen to your feedback, so make sure it knows what you expect from it.
ASMSU was dealt a tough blow when its recommendations to reform tailgating were mostly rejected or ignored. What it considered to be the student voice in reforming tailgates - if it was even necessary in the first place - was effectively discarded by the university. ASMSU lost that round, but this survey shows it's interested in winning the next.
The trick is, ASMSU needs you. Under normal circumstances, undergraduate voters really don't show up for student government elections at MSU. In a worst-case scenario, the real tragedy would not be spending $7,000 - at least ASMSU tried - it would be if no students, even those originally surveyed, turned up to vote. Popular revisions to ASMSU's constitution or measures to streamline effectively wouldn't be eligible for implementation. Bear in mind that making your voice louder as a student requires action on your part.
Plainly, ASMSU is asking you to make them better. It's taking a holistic approach at revamping its system to make you, and your representative government, more powerful on campus. It's considering that the current system isn't even the best one, a sure-fire indication that ASMSU appears to be serious about this.
Like we said, though, improving representative government is a two-way street. ASMSU can't improve unless its members follow through on this bill, and MSU undergraduates give it their attention and constructive feedback. Frankly, we wish ASMSU would spend most of its budget on making itself the most effective governing body it could be, but that's fairly unrealistic.
Moral of the story: You can be louder, and your representative government is listening. Take advantage.
