During Thursday night’s general assembly meeting, ASMSU decided against passing a bill to turn the group into an official university department and to transfer its funds to the university financial system. The university responded by freezing the group’s funds and alerting ASMSU its student tax fund will be withheld until current assets are transferred to an on-campus account.

The university warned the organization such action would result if the group didn’t relocate its funds by April 5, as established in a memorandum sent Feb. 26.

With ASMSU’s emergency funds, Mike Mozina, vice president for student funding, said the organization could last for about nine months.

The current feud between university officials and our student government is a continuation of a dispute started in 2011, stemming from the misrepresentation by an accountant who was not approved by ASMSU and who was an MSU employee at the time. ASMSU opposed transferring its funds to an on-campus account, fearing the relocation would jeopardize the control of its student tax and the services it provides.

ASMSU’s concerns about transferring its funds are understandable and would be a major change in 50 years of being independently run. But considering how the it is funded, the problem feels more personal.

Through the $18 per student per semester tax, ASMSU collects roughly $1.5 million in revenue each year.

This money is expected to be used for various services — including blue books, newspapers and legal services — but if the university feels money is being mismanaged, this is concerning to the entire MSU community and should be sorted out with both parties at the table.

ASMSU President Evan Martinak and MSU Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Mark Haas insisted the excess spending used to fund its carnival and cancelled Ne-Yo concert didn’t instigate this action, but they serve as red flags for a potential problem at hand.

In the past semester, ASMSU spent $25,500 to fund a carnival few showed interest in, and voted to allocate $250,000 for a concert it eventually cancelled.

Regardless of whether these choices led to the freezing of funds, how are the ones responsible for supplying this money not expected to be upset?

Similar to the criticism it received for failing to generate interest in elections, ASMSU can’t sit back and assume the student body will support an organization rarely seen.

As an independent student government, ASMSU should rally students to see the reasons why transferring their funds to an on-campus account would be wrong step and prove the university at fault.

If it cannot do this, ASMSU and the university need to reach an agreement that students’ voices can remain independent from MSU and money is properly handled.