ASMSU, the Associated Students of Michigan State University, was founded on March 9, 1965, by the presidents of the major governing groups, wherein it established itself as the all-university undergraduate student government. The First Student Board comprised of John McQuitty, Chuck Stoddard, Jim Graham, and Webb Martin and other presidents of the major governing groups, who set out to collect and distribute a 25-cent tax per student, per semester, and to represent the student population to the University Administration, city of East Lansing and the State Legislature.
And thus began one of the most prestigious and powerful student governments in the nation. Since that time, ASMSU has pioneered new student services, programming, outreach and engagement, academic policies and governmental advocacy, as well as the establishment of the Class Councils, Funding and Programming Boards.
ASMSU was the first and only student government association in the Big Ten in which the students voted by popular referendum to assess a specific “ASMSU” tax upon themselves in order to establish the association. From the establishment of the first Student Legal Services office in the Big Ten back in the 1970s, to the resurrection of MSU Homecoming in 1993, to the state passage of Medical Amnesty in 2012, ASMSU has been on the front lines and behind the scenes, pioneering new initiatives on behalf of the students.
In the last few academic years, ASMSU has introduced the university-wide Readership Program, designed new academic policies including “Course Retake Policy,” “Grief Absence Policy,” “Preferred Name Policy” and most recently a initiative to establish an Online Syllabi Database, all of which have been progressing through MSU’s Academic Governance system.
We created the new iClicker rental program, and an online student health insurance resource. We produce the MSU yearbook, the Red Cedar Log, and we continue to do government advocacy. We advocate on behalf of students to the East Lansing City Council on issues ranging from noise and litter ordinances to voter access and community relations.
At the federal level we advocate for continued support of federal loans and grants for students to our senators and congressmen.
We hope you will continue to support and take interest in our objectives. Join us any Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. for our General Assembly meetings on the third floor of the Student Services Building, and we are always interested in your input. Feel free to send any inquiries, comments or concerns to info@asmsu.msu.edu, check us out at asmsu.msu.edu and find us on social media.
Evan Martinak, ASMSU president
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