The U.S. Student Association’s Michigan department stays in close contact with many of the state universities’ student governments throughout the year, including MSU’s, White said.

When the association contacted ASMSU three weeks ago about rallying in Lansing to make college more affordable, they were interested, said Michael Leahy, ASMSU Student Assembly chairperson.

But not long after, ASMSU said they did not agree with some of the stances the association took on certain issues, such as free college tuition for illegal immigrants, Leahy said.

As a result, ASMSU did not take part in the rally, advertise for it or transport students to the Capitol. Leahy said face-to-face meetings and lobbying on their own would have more of an impact than showing up to the rally.

“There are a lot of priorities we have, and keeping tuition low is our first priority, whether it is in a rally or simply in relationships with legislators,” said Matt Patton, ASMSU’s director of government affairs.

“But the only reason we did not take part in this rally is because it was counterproductive to what we have been doing.”

Patton said ASMSU has been building its rapport with Lansing officials, gaining trust and strengthening relationships for the future betterment of MSU students. If ASMSU went and protested with the group, it might burn some bridges, he said.

“We don’t want to lose places at the table,” Patton said.

White described the rally as nonpartisan, but Leahy said he did not want ASMSU to be grouped with the U.S. Student Association because they believed in the same overall message but didn’t agree on all of its details.

“We felt some of the policy stances might be a distraction from the core issue, which was higher education funding,” Leahy said.

Another reason Leahy said he didn’t promote the rally was because of what he thought was a lack of planning – he said the rally had been planned three weeks prior.

However, White said they had been working on the rally for two months.

Leahy and Patton both did not want to storm in unexpected on legislators.

“If you are trying to change someone’s mind, the last thing you want to do is to be impolite,” Patton said.

Although MSU’s student government was not present, White said he was still happy with the turnout, with 600 students attending to express the message of investing in higher education funding.