The Academic Assembly of ASMSU is getting back into the swing of taking care of business.
Tuesday the assembly went into committee planning for the spring semester. Committee members plan bills they want to put into action and budget allocation before presenting their plans to the full assembly.
Dan Weber, Academic Assembly chairperson, is eager to push legislation for a minor degree program at MSU.
"Specializations are too limited," he said. "We'd like to formulate some sort of resolution so that we can pass a bill for minors. We are hoping to have minors offered more openly."
Before the spring's first assembly meeting, members of the Budget and Standards Committee also hope to discuss their annual budget and blue book distribution.
"We have 3.5 percent of overall (finances) that we receive, and we have to decide how we want to spend this money," Weber said.
He also said the assembly is looking to raise blue book ordering from 10,000 to 20,000.
"We pay $147 per 1,000 books, and if we increase the ordering, it's cheaper by $15," Weber said.
Peter Tomchuck, representative for the College of Social Science and a political science sophomore, said the additional books will increase ASMSU's outreach to students.
"More students will have the chance to benefit from one of our provided services," he said.
Tomchuck also said the Academic Assembly will host a competition in the fall to design a blue book cover.
The Academic Assembly could save $300 if they increase blue book distribution. Last semester students used about 7,000 of ASMSU's provided blue books, Weber said.
That total is already more than half of the blue books normally used for an entire year. The provided data shows that more students are now using the free service.
Journalism senior Kristyn Allen agreed that students should take advantage of the blue books.
"Last year, in my (Integrative Arts and Humanities) class, a student that worked (for ASMSU) happened to have some (extra) blue books and distributed them out to the class," she said. "That was cool."
Allen added that it's hard for students to get free services on campus with expenses so high.
"I think if you can get them at Student Services, it's just one more thing you can get for free," Allen said. "Students usually don't get much for free."
