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ASMSU Vice President for Government Affairs Ishaan Modi settles into new post

January 28, 2022
<p>Associated Students of Michigan State University vice president for governmental affairs Ishaan Modi. Photo courtesy of Ishaan Modi.</p>

Associated Students of Michigan State University vice president for governmental affairs Ishaan Modi. Photo courtesy of Ishaan Modi.

The Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, recently elected former State Liaison, junior Ishaan Modi, to be the new Vice President for Government Affairs, or VPGA, for the spring 2022 semester. 

This election, held in December 2021,  was announced in November when the position became vacant following the former VPGA Matt Apostle’s resignation. 

“I worked under the last Vice President for Government Affairs,” Modi said. “I was specializing on state-level affairs, so I was really working on our state-level advocacy. And then (Apostle) resigned, and so I decided it's a role I could be really successful in, and I loved the work, and so I decided to run for it.”

Ishaan ran for a brief campaign period leading up to the election, in which he ran against fellow ASMSU member and political science sophomore Devin Woodruff. While students had no ability to vote in this election, as the power to vote was reserved to the General Assembly representatives, Ishaan attributes much of his success to his ability to gain widespread student support for his campaign.  

“I got a lot of people who were from various different colleges, I got a bunch of those people to speak on the Zoom meeting saying they supported me, and basically what they’re doing is they’re asking their college representatives to vote for me to be their vice president for government affairs,” Modi said. “It's almost like an indirect election, ‘cause the college representatives have to be responsible, make decisions for who they represent in the college ... that’s the role the student body plays is expressing their opinions and support so that the representatives can make a decision on who might the best candidate be.” 

Modi describes the role of VPGA as the chief advocate for all levels of government for MSU undergraduates and said he is excited to “move the needle” on policy while representing the students of his university.  

“I’m just really excited, trying to actually move the needle on policy issues that affect students, trying to make changes, advocate for changes, that makes students’ lives easier,” Modi said. 

Modi, originally from Fishers, Indiana, is double majoring in social relations and policy in the James Madison College, and history, philosophy and sociology of science, in addition to being a Spanish minor. 

He aspires to go to medical school after graduation, with the aspiration of becoming a primary care physician. 

Despite not having the aspiration to go into politics, he plans on using his skills in policymaking and lobbying to influence healthcare policy in the United States, and is grateful for the opportunities ASMSU has given him to develop these abilities. 

For the duration of his time as an undergraduate at MSU, he looks forward to studying abroad in Spain over the summer, and continuing to serve his fellow student through his work at ASMSU. 

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