Among the topics discussed were academic competitiveness, athletics in academia, inclusiveness on campus, sexual assault, mental health and the status of MSU’s intramural facilities. Simon spoke for roughly 45 minutes and afterwards students responded to her answers.

“I was really pleased to hear our general assembly continue on the topics of mental health and sexual assault,” ASMSU president Domonique Clemons said. “I think both of those are issues our university has not done enough with and they’ve been ultimately overly silent with that.”

The discussion was civil between Simon and the representatives and involved asking questions and exchanging answers. However, officials had varying thoughts on the effectiveness of the dialogue.

“When it comes to those two issues, I was not completely satisfied with President Simon’s answers,” Clemons said.

Clemons said he thought Simon gave blanket statements and spoke about the issues in broad terms, rather than addressing them specifically.

“It was a general ‘we need to do better as a university,'” Clemons said. “We know that. We’re asking, ‘What are you going to do better?’”

Simon ended the dialogue on a friendly note, complementing ASMSU on their commitment to meaningful change.

“I really have a lot of confidence in the university community … most of the people around here really want to do the right thing,” Simon said. “They might not know how, they might do it awkwardly, imperfectly for sure. These are very hard decisions, but I think we have the people, with all of you as well, who want to be part of that process of change."