At their retreat last weekend, ASMSU members discussed ideas for working on problems they deemed "hot issues" for students.

Members talked about adding specific criteria to professors' policies on canceling class in bad weather, said Robert Murphy, ASMSU's Academic Assembly chairperson.

"Sometimes the university remains open when it's dangerous for it to do so," Murphy said.

Representatives also are interested in adding a fall break to the university schedule, he said. Members haven't decided how long they would like it to be, but Murphy suggested a weeklong vacation would be beneficial.

"The Academic Assembly has already (altered the schedule) before by getting Martin Luther King Day recognized as an MSU holiday," he said. "It'd be fairly routine to push it through (Academic) Governance."

Student and city relations, safety on campus, higher education funding and eliminating 8 a.m. classes were some of the other issues discussed during the retreat, said Andrew Bell, Student Assembly's vice chairperson for external affairs.

About 30 students from ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, went to MSU-owned W.K. Kellogg Biological Station near Battle Creek from Friday to Sunday.

The group budgeted $6,000 for the retreat but didn't spend all of it, said Roger Ludy, vice chairperson for internal affairs for ASMSU's Student Assembly.

"We didn't have as many people show up as we had them price us for, so we're waiting for the final numbers from Kellogg Biological Station," Ludy said, adding that he was returning extra supplies to the store on Monday.

It was worth spending student tax dollars on the retreat, said Scott Lachman, Eli Broad College of Business representative for Student Assembly.

"Saturday we met and thought of all the problems or issues we could work on throughout the year, and Sunday we went through and figured out a strategy on how to go about some of these issues on campus," Lachman said. "The benefit of the retreat will be shown throughout the year, both on campus and throughout the city of East Lansing."

Prior to the retreat, some students said they didn't think the retreat was an appropriate use of their tax dollars.

Provost Kim Wilcox and Lee June, vice president for Student Affairs and Services, spoke to the students Saturday on ASMSU's role and how it could work with the administration.

From his brief visit, Wilcox said he got the impression that ASMSU members were able to have good discussions at the retreat.

"It gave me a chance to think about perspective on the role of students in governance of the university … and think about our complimentary roles," Wilcox said.

The retreat was fun and members played a football game and other activities for team building, but it was also a lot of work, Bell said.

"It was really productive," he said. "I'm exhausted. We worked from about 9 a.m. until about 8 p.m."