ASMSU's Academic Assembly voted unanimously to recognize the International Students Association, or ISA, as part of MSU's undergraduate student government at its meeting Tuesday.
The vote was a step toward ISA's actual membership in ASMSU. The group still needs to be accepted by ASMSU's Student Assembly before it can join the organization. The assembly will vote on Sept. 8.
"International students make up a huge population of students, so it's important they have a say and know what's going on around here," said Kyle Martin, Academic Assembly's external vice chairperson.
The International Students Association has been trying to join ASMSU since it started in 2003. Officials want to replace the spot on the student government board that was previously given to the International Associations Council, which dissolved in 2002, said Mayo Matsubayashi, undergraduate president of ISA and a communication senior from Japan.
The International Associations Council was a group of presidents from different nationality groups, and ISA encompasses all international students, Matsubayashi said. The International Associations Council went to ASMSU meetings regularly, but because they were presidents of other groups, they were more interested in their own organizations, she said.
It has taken two years for ASMSU to vote the group in because ISA was not as organized in previous years and had been working on a constitution, which was recently finalized and submitted to ASMSU, Matsubayashi said.
Academic Assembly officials were supportive of having ISA as a part of their assembly.
"We need to represent them to keep diversity on campus," said Karthik Prasad, the assembly's internal vice chairperson.
If Student Assembly members vote to induct ISA, Chuka Orji plans to be the Academic Assembly representative.
"I'm thinking about working on the tuition, because international students' tuition is too much," the general business administration and pre-law freshman from Nigeria said.
Orji also would like to represent the views of Zimbabwe students concerning Academic Assembly's interest in revoking Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's honorary MSU law degree.
In addition to representation of international students' views, ISA officials hope to receive funding from ASMSU.
"We don't collect dues, so we have no money right now," Matsubayashi said. "So if we join ASMSU, it's going to be a huge help."
