Here is a closer look at the undergraduate student government's Jan. 24 committee meetings:

Extending Saturday library hours 

The academic committee passed a bill advocating for the MSU library to extend its Saturdays hours.

Currently, the library is open until 8 p.m. on most Saturdays. James Madison representative Stacy LaRouche, who introduced the bill, explained how closing at that time may be inconvenient for students.

“Students come to a university to learn, to study, to better themselves," LaRouche said. "People have crazy schedules, not everyone can get to the library between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on a Saturday."

It was passed unanimously and will be voted on at the general assembly meeting. 

Changing MSU police alerts 

A bill advocating for the MSU police text alert system to notify students when weather is hazardous was also passed unanimously by the academic committee.

LaRouche introduced the bill by drawing attention towards the recent death of a student on campus after a collision with a salt truck. LaRouche elaborated saying this bill “could protect people (and) literally save lives.”

College of Business representative Olivia Long seconded the bill, expressing the same amount of support as LaRouche while also touching on the financial aspect.

"It's going to cost probably no extra money because the police warning system is already in place, it's just going to take somebody typing out a two-second message,” Long said. “There's no reason we shouldn't be warning people about hazardous conditions whenever possible.”

Creating a new chair position 

Members of both the policy and finance committees discussed the idea of electing a position to solely act as chair of the general assembly, or GA, during their meetings. This action would would take the responsibility of chairing the GA away from the president, who currently holds this position.

Policy Committee Chair Isaiah Hawkins acted as the main supporter of this change in structure during his committee's meeting. 

Hawkins said he believes creating a GA chair would be beneficial because that individual could focus their efforts entirely on the general assembly.

"the general assembly is the only department in ASMSU that doesn't have a department head," Hawkins said.

Finance Committee Chair Elizabeth Medlin spoke on how the discussion went with her committee. 

“This position would be an opportunity to delineate the powers, not just the powers of the president, but also enable them to focus on both their other responsibilities and the messaging aspect, and I think that those could be positive things,” Medlin said. “At this point, I'm probably 60 percent in favor of it with some reservations that could arise.”

Current ASMSU President Cookie Rifiotis, and other members of the Office of the President, were the first to disagree with this suggestion. Their argument centered around the fact that creating a new position would divide the Office of the President and the general assembly.

"Making a structural change like this is setting us for dismemberment, less discussion, (and) more back room discussion," Rifiotis said. "I serve you guys, I’m proud presenting my platform, I ran, if anyone else wanted to chair the meeting which is part of the job description, which is part of the responsibilities, why didn't they run?” 

Rifiotis said before later adding that she had “no idea how this would benefit students.”

Vice President for Student Allocations Makenzie Bosworth further elaborated on how a position like this would create division within ASMSU.

“I think it changes the feeling of the room, I think it changes, consequently, the relationship between the GA and the Office of the President," Bosworth said. "I don't think it’s the intention to be divisive but I think it's a consequence."

The discussion ended with little agreement, however it is likely to come up again in later meetings.

ASMSU will meet on Jan. 31 for the general assembly meeting.