ASMSU’s committee meetings kicked off the semester broaching topics that included planning an event in honor of MSU’s Rose Bowl win and starting volunteer programs to help MSU students excel academically.
The Academic Affairs Committee discussed two potential volunteer programs that could help students struggling to learn the ropes of attending MSU.
The proposed Peer Mentoring program would help first-year students looking for a more personalized mentoring experience, ASMSU Vice President for Academic Affairs Mitchell Goheen said.
“There are a ton of resources for new students on campus, but not just one place for everything,” Goheen said.
“We hope peer mentoring run by students who have been there and know all of these things would help these kids really experience college life,” Goheen said.
Also in the works is a Supplement Instruction Program, which Goheen said would be a peer-to-peer teaching network.
Students who are successful with at-risk classes, or classes that students historically don’t do well in, would potentially tutor students who have difficulties with these classes in their own weekly one-on-one sessions.
“It’d be a more comfortable, informal way for students to learn collaboratively,” he said.
The program currently is based off a similar one that is meant for volunteering, but the committee is looking into minimal pay due to concerns with the sustainability that volunteer work might not provide.
The Finance Committee unanimously approved a bill to allocate up to $50,000 from Special Projects to fund a “Spartan Celebration” and bring the campus together in the spirit of MSU’s Rose Bowl win.
The money would be used to fund a guest performer and potentially to rent a venue on campus.
However, concerns with funding the event were raised when Vice President of Special Projects Abbie Newton said she could not reveal the guest performer due to contract restrictions.
Members were uncertain about funding the event without knowing who they would be bringing to campus.
“The performer’s cool, but isn’t the main part,” College of Business representative Gregory Jackson said. “It’s not a concert, it’d be more like a pep rally to celebrate the team.”
Newton said that there would be a potential to break even on funds if they were to charge admission to the event, all of which would be returned to Special Funds.
In addition, the Finance Committee also approved a bill to allocate $2,000 from General Fund to support the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils to attend the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values conference
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