Students address concerns to Trustees Brianna Scott and Kelly Tebay

Trustees Scott and Tebay — who both began their terms as members of the MSU Board of Trustees in January — attended ASMSU's Thursday meeting. At the meeting, the two participated in a question and answer segment with general assembly, or GA, members. 

Vice President for Academic Affairs Dylan Westrin began the discussion by asking the trustees about an initiative to include students on Board of Trustee subcommittees.

Scott acknowledged that this idea was discussed at a meeting earlier this month, however they tabled it because they did “did not have sufficient time.” Scott also added that she has planned meetings herself to hear from students personally in hopes of bringing their ideas to the board.

Later, Lyman Briggs representative Ben Horne brought up block tuition, turning the Q&A into more of a discussion. 

Scott expressed that the two have not discussed much regarding block tuition since it was an initiative voted on by the Board of Trustees before they began their terms in office, however she did express an interest in hearing students' opinions, starting with the GA. 

After hearing that many representatives were not in support of block tuition, Scott responded by saying, “I don’t think that the people that were making these decisions necessarily thought about some of these nuances. It’s important that your voice is heard and we will make sure to get that information to the Board of Trustees so we can discuss, in fairness, how this applies to ... students.”

Other topics brought up to the trustees included improvements being made to the intramural sports facilities and improvements to the Office of Institutional Equity, or OIE. 

Bill pushing for Economics degree to qualify as STEM major passes

A bill advocating for the Bachelor of Science in Economics degree — which is currently classified by the university as a social science major — to qualify as a STEM major was passed unanimously by ASMSU.

International Student Association representative Asif Iftekhar, the introducer of the bill, has been pushing this initiative by himself since the start of the academic year. When presenting the bill during Thursday's meeting, he acknowledged that classifying the BS in Economics degree as STEM made more sense. 

“The Bachelor of Science in Economics ... at MSU in recent years has become increasingly formal and there has been a lot more analytical studies going on, there are a lot more mathematical analysis that students carry out,” Iftekhar said. 

He also addressed the advantages this shift would provide for international students. The Optional Practical Training period — which is the amount of time international students are permitted to remain in the United States to work after graduating from MSU — lasts for about three years for STEM majors and only one year for other majors. This would give international students more time to find jobs and gain experience within the United States, Iftekhar said. 

During discussion, representatives agreed that the BS in Economics classifying as STEM fits the degree better.

“It gets derived a lot of times as a social science or not as much of a pure science ... but there’s a lot of science that goes on in economics,” College of Agriculture and Natural Resources representative Josh Grindling said in support of the bill. 

Advocating for course syllabi to be available online

A bill advocating for professors to publish their syllabi online so it's available for all students to view prior to class enrollment passed on Thursday. 

“What this calls for is students to be able to see all the syllabi for classes before they sign up, so they know typically what the schedule will look like,” College of Music representative Isaiah Hawkins, the introducer of the bill, said. 

Seconder of the bill, Lyman Briggs College representative Ben Horne, also drew attention to the benefits this bill would provide as the university transitions to block tuition. 

“As we move to block tuition ... the drop/add date is getting shortened, so there is going to be less of a trial period for students when they get into classes," Horne said. "It is incredibly important that students have as much of an idea as possible of what they're getting into before they enter a class."

Members of the GA supported the bill, referencing their personal experiences of entering classes that were different than what they expected before voting to pass the bill unanimously.

ASMSU committees will meet on March 7.