What exactly is ASMSU?

Now of course I know what ASMSU is after being a student for three years and working hand in hand with the organization as a writer for the Red Cedar Log, MSU’s yearbook. But whenever I talk with students about ASMSU, many are left with more questions than certainties.

This issue, coupled with MSU pulling the student taxes that are used to fund ASMSU, leaves our elected officials trapped between a rock and another equally hard object.

So what is ASMSU to do? Luckily, as the moment of reckoning approaches for President Evan Martinak and his staff, there are a few steps that — if taken quickly — could turn ASMSU from a unfunded fringe group to the center of a thriving student body.

1. Put the cookies back in the jar:
For those too preoccupied with the latest developments on “Game of Thrones” or other summer shows, ASMSU had its funding pulled by the university because the funds, raised through a student tax, were being kept off-site by the student government.

The university stated it is willing to return ASMSU’s funding if it moves its funds back to an on-campus account. So far, ASMSU has not communicated with university officials and shows no signs of stepping back from its laurels.

Unfortunately, as noble as it may seem to stand up to a body as imposing as MSU, the fact is ASMSU is unable to function without support from the university, or at least function in the same capacity it currently upholds. Thus, ASMSU needs to swallow its pride and move the money back on campus.

As with anything, from arguments with significant others to disagreements with co-workers, individuals must pick their battles. And for ASMSU’s staff, this is a losing battle that accomplishes nothing in the grand scheme of things.

2. Tell people who you are:
I remember walking onto campus three years ago with stars in my eyes and excitement coursing through my veins. This seems to be the case with most freshmen arriving at MSU, and their passion for reinvention and establishing themselves is harnessed by every organization on campus from fraternities to the hundreds of student organizations.

For ASMSU, it needs to do a better job at reaching out to these individuals. I never heard about student government until they were running around campus asking for me to vote for their leaders. Why would I care about voting for something that I hadn’t even been introduced to in the first place? Furthermore, what exactly was ASMSU doing for me?

ASMSU has a cornucopia of services, from blue books to loans to providing students with an award-winning yearbook cost free. They fund events, stick up for students rights and I believe they are genuinely trying to make MSU a better place.

But all of this is for nought if the group doesn’t get its message out there. ASMSU needs to be at Academic Orientation Program, or AOP, letting incoming freshmen know what services are provided. Martinak and company need to be all over the Welcome Weekend festivities, handing out yearbooks, engaging with student populations, showing them that student government at college isn’t the vapid, banal popularity contest ruling high schools across the nation. ASMSU stands for something, it just needs to let people know that.

3. Be the good guys:
I can’t remember the last time I heard anything about student government working with the university on policy. Generally, it seems as though the two sides are more adapt at bickering and remaining polarized than actually making a difference. Instead of emulating one of the most despised institution of the federal government, ASMSU needs to be the party looking to compromise and get things done. If students believe their government is interested in helping them while it is university officials that impede progress, students will move in-mass to support their government.

Along with this, find out what students want and work to make it a reality. Although I doubt anything can be done about tuition or the proximity of the nearest Starbucks, I’d be willing to bet ASMSU could advocate for students rights to only have one roommate in a designated double room or promote accountability on the part of the university to reprimand ineffective teachers. But you’ll never know what students want unless you ask, and instead of sitting in their offices, ASMSU officials need to hit the streets and find out what students expect from their representatives.

Those are just the three things that first came to mind. I’m sure there are more steps ASMSU could take to promote efficiency or better the lives of students. But at this point, perceptions vary from useless to a group of representatives collecting big checks while putting on cancelled concerts and under-attended carnivals. I believe ASMSU officials can change that, they just need to show both the university and the student body they are willing to step up to the plate.

R.J. Wolcott is a guest columnist at The State News and a journalism senior. Reach him at rj.wolcott@statenews.com.