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ASMSU presidential candidates to debate tonight, office elections are this week

April 14, 2020
ASMSU President Mario Kakos listens at the ASMSU meeting on Oct. 3, 2019.
ASMSU President Mario Kakos listens at the ASMSU meeting on Oct. 3, 2019.

After the student body elected representatives for the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, 57th General Assembly Session, those representatives are preparing to elect their new Office of the President on April 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. 

Here is a look at who’s running and what they hope to offer: 

President

Abii-Tah Bih and Dylan Catalano are both looking to take over for President Mario Kakos. 

The president serves as the chief executive officer of ASMSU and chair of the General Assembly. They also serve as spokesperson for the student body to MSU’s administration.

Read more about the candidates here.

Vice President for Finance and Operations

Currently held by finance senior Tayte Rider, the vice president for finance and operations oversees the business and financial operations of the organization’s departments and their services. The candidates are Kyle Biel, Jordan Polk and Noah Skrok.

Kyle Biel: “Some of my plans include working closely with major college organizations like RHA to publicize the ASMSU. I also plan to work with our marketing department to do more outreach and direct engagement with the student body. I would like to collect more qualitative and quantitative data about the services students are using and use that data to budget appropriate amounts for these operations. I would also use this data to support improvements in the services ASMSU provides.”

Jordan Polk: “Due to close experiences working in many different parts of ASMSU services and programs, I’ve chosen to run for the position of VPFO to strengthen them and shape them to the needs of all students. I believe that with the support of ASMSU General Assembly representatives, staff, and campus administrators, I can amplify the voice of students who need to be heard. I hope to put to action my experiences working with a diverse student body to expand our resources in a direction that truly makes the undergraduate experience more equal and equitable. I hope to improve the awareness and transparency of our services and bring students closer in to their student government. As well, I hope to be a point-of-reference for any and all students who want to know more about their student government.”

Noah Skrok: “I enjoy the idea of being able to make an impact on MSU’s campus in a way that makes the lives of MSU’s students better. I plan on doing this through oversight of the many services ASMSU offers. To many students, the services offered through ASMSU are their only real connection to our governing body. My interest in overseeing these services include; free blue books, interest free loans, clicker rental, free Red Cedar Log Yearbooks, copy/fax services, test prep courses, as well as the Readership Program is to provide the best college experience for our thousands of undergraduate students. At the end of the day, my interest lies in serving in the best interest of the Michigan State University student body to enhance the student experience throughout their undergraduate careers. I plan on doing this through contractual negotiations and maintenance, exploration and execution of new student initiatives, and development of student collaboration efforts.”

Vice President for Academic Affairs

Current Vice President for Academic Affairs Brianna Aiello is running for reelection unopposed. The VPAA represents the student body on academic governance committees as well as ensuring students have a safe academic experience. 

Vice President for Governmental Affairs 

Current Vice President for Governmental Affairs Maysa Sitar is running for reelection against Georgia Frost. The VPGA advocates for the student body to the local, state and national government, as well as overseeing voter registration and civic engagement efforts on campus.

Georgia Frost: “I think that this job requires someone with a heightened sense of professionalism. Seeing that the VPGA is essentially a liaison of the advocacy points of students and MSU administration and then also local, state, and federal legislators and government officials. Additionally, anyone who knows me well is aware of the passion that I exhibit when working through a project. I always prioritize quality over expediency. And I do not feel comfortable submitting work and running projects without an extraordinarily high standards of approval. And I'd like to take those particular qualities that I have into this office. I think that that could be a big benefit in terms of how the General Assembly and the Vice President of Governmental Affairs Office, they work together. I think that there are a lot of relationships that could be strengthened in that regard. And I think that it would really benefit from my leadership.”

Maysa Sitar: “In the past couple years, one of our biggest efforts has been ensuring that there aren't classes on Election Day. And so this year, we got pretty close to that ... I'm excited to keep working on that. And I think it'll happen in the future. So we've have done a lot of voter registration. So we go through the dorms and register students to vote. And we've had a lot of success with that. We've registered, you know, thousands of students through these measures. And that's something that I started to do before every major election. So this year, we did it before the presidential primary as well. So I've been really excited about our voter registration efforts. We conducted a landlord survey rating your landlords so that students can take a look at what other students think about landlords and for signing leases. We created a housing 101 list that helps students know a few things before signing a lease for an apartment or a house. We've done a lot of advocacy.”

Vice President for Internal Administration

Current Vice President for Internal Administration Nora Teagan is running for reelection unopposed. The VPIA acts as a secretary to the General Assembly in order to create legislation and work with the staff department. The IA department also serves as advisers to the Class Councils.

Vice President for Student Allocations

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The vice president for student allocations serves as chair of the Student Allocations Board that distributes funds to registered student organizations and CORES and COPS. The candidates are current VPSA Dylan Catalano, Kyle Biel, Christopher Eyke and Noah Skrok.

Kyle Biel: “I want to work with RSOs and CORES and COPS groups to plan cost effective and dynamic events. This means increasing our platform to advise these important groups. In order to ensure that RSOs and CORES and COPS groups have access to funding we will work to create and promote resources beyond SAB. I will also be an advocate for the student body ... and encourage our university to provide more financial support to the services that effect student's everyday lives.”

Dylan Catalano: “As the VPSA, you also oversee the RSO consulting program with ASMSU, which provides consulting services to RSOs. So you really have to have that double lens view of not only are you overseeing the funding process, but you really are helping ensure that RSOs have all of the necessary tools they need to thrive and to make their missions and their projects they're working on that much further and push them that much further. ... You have a legislative body that you have to ensure has all the necessary information and tools they need to make the right decisions. You have a budget that you have to manage, you have a staff that you have to supervise, and you have to help and you have to take along with you when, you know, carrying out the decisions of the board, helping student organizations.”

Christopher Eyke: “I think that the allocation support really needs to be a non-biased entity where we can support everyone in the community while still holding dear those ideas of equity where we can fill in some of those gaps. So I'm looking to form a board as VPSA, which is committed to that idea, while also committed to responsibly allocating funds because the past year we had a lot of issues about us running out of funds before we're even able to hear everyone present for funds. I just don't think that that's fair. And I think that if you need funds, you should at least be allowed to present and we should have the money to at least hear someone's presentation and so consider reforming the way that we look at things.”

Noah Skrok: “I am interested in supporting as many student lead initiatives as I possibly can during my time at Michigan State University. I couldn’t think of a better way of doing so than serving as the executive supporter of student initiatives through the branch of ASMSU that allocates funds to Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), the Councils of Racial and Ethnic Students (CORES), and the Councils of Progressive Students (COPS). While serving as a student allocations board member this past year, I saw first-hand the amazing impact that RSO led events and initiatives have on the campus of Michigan State University. In the end, my goal is to maintain and develop my department to support as many Registered Student Organizations by taking the financial burden off of their planning process as they work towards improving the MSU community.”

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