Out with the old and in with the new.
The recently seated representatives of Student Assembly's 44th session elected new chairpersons Thursday as their first action.
Mike Leahy defeated last session's chairperson, Roger Ludy, by a 27-6 vote.
Leahy's first action in his new position was a show of gratitude toward his opponent, asking the assembly to recognize the work Ludy did. His second act was directed toward the full table of representatives who voted.
"I think pizza would definitely be in order," Leahy said.
Leahy, who has been with ASMSU for two years, is a representative of the College of Social Science. He discussed ASMSU's image, the organization's Web site and communication among ASMSU and undergraduate students.
"We get to sit down with administrators and the Board of Trustees and find out things that most people don't know about," Leahy said. "It's our job to get that information out to the student body."
ASMSU is MSU's undergraduate student government.
Leahy also said the organization is "privileged" to collect $1.3 million in taxes from undergraduate students every year, and the task should not be taken lightly.
"We need to make sure that money is spent efficiently," he said. "We need to go over the budget very carefully and make sure everything is spent in the most respective way possible. It's not a piggy bank. If you have a good program, then that's something you allocate money for. You don't just do it out of whim."
Since Ludy did not run for a seat on the assembly for his college, he no longer has a position with the organization. After the election, he declined to answer questions from The State News.
"You can ask," Ludy said, "but I'm not going to say a thing to you."
After chairperson elections, the assembly elected Nigel Scarlett to a second consecutive term as vice chairperson for external affairs. Scarlett defeated Leahy in February's vice chairperson for external affairs election to finish the session when Julielyn Gibbons resigned. On Thursday, he defeated David Schmidt, of the College of Social Science, by a 21-8-1 vote.
Rather than talking points or an agenda, Scarlett talked about his "keys."
"This key in my pocket is just a piece of metal, but this is the key to the office that I now hold," Scarlett said in his speech before the election. "I've had this key for two months. I ask your permission to be able to pick these keys back up. These are the keys to my goals."
Scarlett also discussed bringing back football tailgating to "MSU's form of glory," government affairs, voter turnout and drinking before football games.
"Students can't go out and play any games anymore," Scarlett said in reference to the restrictions on drinking games during football tailgating. "We can provide things for them to do — drunk twister is pretty fun, I've tried it."
The assembly's third action of the meeting was to elect Juan Carlos Elizalde to the position of vice chairperson for internal affairs. Elizalde, who ran unopposed, is from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
"I've been working long hours for ASMSU for the last year," he said. "I've put a lot of effort into the association. I want to see it grow."
Elizalde already is itching to make a difference inside and outside the office of the chair.
"The office has no filing system, no financial accounts — nothing is done," he said. "The first thing I want to do is reorganize the whole office and make electronic files of everything — actually clean up. This office is a disaster."
