Dennis, a Republican, said he feels he can show that MSU students can have an impact on the government by running.

“Though it’s part of East Lansing, the MSU students are like a separate community,” Dennis said. “It’s hard to say they are getting true representation when they don’t have someone from MSU on the board.”

The 16-member Board of Commissioners’ primary function is to administer Ingham County’s $80 million budget.

“Basically, the board decides how much money goes into health care, courts and law enforcement,” said Marc Thomas, chairperson for the Board of Commissioners.

Although Grebner ran while he attended MSU, Dennis said he feels Grebner doesn’t communicate with the student body anymore, which makes up much of District 10.

“I think maybe back then he probably related pretty well, I just think that now he’s forgotten where he started,” Dennis said.

However, Grebner said he is still basically on MSU’s campus, as his office for Practical Political Consulting Inc., is located above Pinball Pete’s at 220 Albert Ave.

While Dennis and Grebner both began their involvement with the county government while at MSU, they’ve had very different experiences, Grebner said.

“I came to the MSU campus for school in 1970, and kind of got swept up in politics,” he said. “I was part of a whole revolution.”

Grebner said he was somewhat of a campus radical, a “leftist-hippie type,” who came to MSU right as the campus was turning away from its previously conservative mindset.

“It was a period about like this, although maybe even more intensely political,” he said.

“At that time, there was the Vietnam War, which was sort of like the Iraq war, except 10 times as many people were dying.”

Dennis said the war in Iraq had no impact on his decision to run.

“A county commissioner has nothing to do with the war in Iraq,” he said. “I’ve (just) been kind of obsessed with politics as far as I can remember.”

Thomas said the trick to winning county commissioner is that it’s a partisan position, and the East Lansing area is heavily Democratic.

“I get about 90 percent of the vote (for my area), and it’s not entirely because I’m this beloved politician — I’m a Democrat,” he said.

While students have a chance at winning a position, students running as Republicans don’t, he said.

But Dennis said he isn’t concerned.

“I don’t think it plays a big role in county politics because there’s not really controversial issues we can get into at that level,” he said.

When Grebner ran in 1974, he had the same liberal and democratic views he has now, he said.

“But at the time, that made me conservative because I wasn’t in favor of throwing bricks through windows,” he said.

Grebner said he lost to the incumbent by a handful of votes, but won when he ran again in 1976, and has been on the Board of Commissioners ever since.

The fact that he is well-established and the current political climate will be challenges for Dennis, he said.

“It’s not going to be a good year for Republicans, and he’s not exactly your liberal,” he said.

But Dennis said he feels his status as a student will trump his party affiliation.

“I think it’s a huge advantage because (I) can relate to students, (I) know what’s going through their minds,” he said.

In regards to administering the budget, Dennis said a lot of it involves learning after taking on the job.

“It’s a pretty daunting task for anyone, but that’s why they’ve assigned so many members and why the board primarily focuses on that,” he said.

East Lansing Councilmember Nathan Triplett, who graduated from MSU in 2006 and was elected to his position in November 2007, said students running for positions could bring unique perspectives to the community. Triplett is still a student, pursuing his masters degree in public policy at the University of Michigan.

“Both the students and the university are such an integral part to East Lansing, having a connection to them can be a real asset to anyone interested in running for office,” he said.

Jasmine Ford, a human resources junior who is running for a seat on the MSU Board of Trustees in the November election, said a student voice is lacking on the board, and that she could bring it.

“I am directly influenced by decisions made by the board,” she said.

“I’m the one that has to endure the (tuition) increase each year, I’m also the one who has to endure many security issues that we’ve had on campus.”

There were about 140 burglary cases on campus in 2006, compared to about 30 cases off campus, Ford said, and this is something she thinks needs to be worked on.

“Parents send their kids to universities and expect them to be safe,” she said.

“But looking at numbers, it would seem that living off campus is safer than living on.”

Because the board governs and sets rules for the university, she said it’s important for students to be able to communicate with the trustees.

“The (board) needs to be more accessible and approachable, and that’s what I plan to do, at any given time,” she said.

Ford said her reasons for running are to be a student voice and she said she feels there needs to be a conservative voice on the board as well.

The path for Ford to secure her position is slightly different from Dennis’. Dennis has no opponent in his Aug. 5 primary and his name will appear on the Ingham County ballot in November.

Ford, who is running for the Republican Party, must be nominated by the party in August. She is spending her summer focusing on achieving the nomination.

Both Ford and Dennis are not concerned about the pressure of handling campaigning while in school.

“I don’t think it’s an issue, because look at individuals who sit now,” Ford said. “What’s the difference between a full-time student and a person with a full-time job?”

However, not all students have had to campaign to hold positions within the city or county.

Frank Aiello, an assistant professor at Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus, was appointed to the East Lansing City Council while he was an MSU student in 1997 after there was a vacancy for one of the positions.

“It was competitive — there were two or three other citizens who were also being considered, and there was an application process,” he said.

Aiello said he felt being a student was something that helped him get the position.

“The main goal of the city council at the time was to make sure that they were representing the diverse citizens of East Lansing, and the one gap they saw at the time was students,” he said.

The main challenge for Aiello was that the 1997 MSU riots occurred during his first week of being on the council.

“I became the face of the student body at a time when the city was not very happy with the student body,” he said.

However, he said that his concern about how students crossed the line helped to move the city and the student population closer together during that period.

Dennis said he hopes running for commissioner will have a positive impact on MSU’s image, as well.

“I think this race is going to help MSU come fall…(the university’s) been under a lot of pressure because of Cedar Fest,” Dennis said. “Seeing students being part of the community — it’s all helping MSU.”

Students involved with county and city positions offer viewpoints that are often absent, Triplett said.

“There’s been a long history in our community of students throwing their hats into the ring for elected office, some have won, some have not,” he said.

“But it gets us to consider issues we otherwise would not.”