The new positions reflect the changes of the newly merged General Assembly. Instead of electing a chairperson for both the Academic and Student assemblies, representatives will elect one chairperson for ASMSU.

The other positions include ASMSU provost, vice chairperson for finance and operations, vice chairperson for governmental affairs and secretary.

Membership of the office of the chair will be elected from within the organization instead of a student vote, Association Director Kara Spencer said.

Zachary Taylor, previous interim chairman for the Academic Assembly, is running for the position of ASMSU chairperson. His goals include changing the way ASMSU relates to
students and having more accountability for the leadership, he said.

“We need to increase services we offer, because right now, students don’t really recognize the value in ASMSU,” he said.

Steve Marino said he also will be running for chairman, although he was not added to the official list of candidates because of the misplacement of his election packet.

Marino previously served as vice chairperson for external affairs with Student Assembly. Spencer said whether or not Marino will have a chance to be elected by the assembly is yet to be determined by the election committee.

“I think ASMSU needs to get back in tune with the student body,” Marino said. “I truly think we need to reinvent ASMSU. We’ve lost our focus these past few years.”

Marino said his goal is to strike a balance between representing the student voice in academic governance and providing tangible examples of services for students.

Chris Noffze, Evan Martinak and Taylor are running for the position of provost — which is responsible for overseeing the temporary Academic Assembly and maintaining the organization’s relationship with academic governance, Noffze said.

“With the consolidation of the assemblies, one thing important to me is that ASMSU doesn’t lose our academic focus,” he said. “That’s why this position was created.”

Chris Schotten, Raj Kadiyala and Victor Draine are running for the position of vice chairperson of finance and operations, which chairs the funding committee and supervises the service departments — including student defenders and the blue books program.

For the vice chairperson of governmental affairs position, which involves maintaining a relationship with government entities and overseeing advocacy efforts, the candidates are Noffze, Kadiyala, Draine, Mitch Treadwell and Nicholas Bucca.

Spencer said any MSU student — not just students with prior experience in ASMSU — can run for any position.

“Especially when you have a lot of turnover, you tend to see a new pool of people who have never been involved with ASMSU before,” she said.

Candidates running for multiple positions are offered them in the order they are listed, Noffze said.