Friday, March 29, 2024

First spring semester ASMSU GA meeting returns virtually

January 21, 2022
<p>Associated Students of Michigan State University holds the first spring semester general assembly meeting virtually on Jan. 20</p>

Associated Students of Michigan State University holds the first spring semester general assembly meeting virtually on Jan. 20

Staying consistent with MSU’s announcement for three weeks of remote learning, the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, held their first spring semester general assembly, or GA, meeting virtually on Jan. 20.

President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. attended the meeting to answer questions from the GA. Questions ranged from COVID-19 and vaccine booster concerns within students to plans to increase campus safety.

In total nine bills were introduced with six bills passed, Bill 58-39 rescinded, Bill 58-49 was tabled for the next GA meeting and Bill 58-55 did not pass.

Bill 58-54

Passed unanimously, Bill 58-54 introduced two students to be appointed to the GA: Udai Singh representing the Eli Broad College of Business and Annie Dudley representing the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“I look forward to seeing what these two qualified candidates can do on the GA,” Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Gavyn Webb said.

Bill 58-42

This bill advocates for base increases in Michigan appropriations as well as lowering of the tuition increase limit from 4.2% to 4%.

Bill 58-42 was introduced by College of Education Rep. Ella Woehlke and seconded by College of Social Science Rep. Julian Treviño and was passed unanimously.

Bill 58-39

Bill 58-39 was written to donate $3,000 to East Lansing Info, or ELi.

ELi is a nonprofit and citizen-run local news cooperative that has collaborated with ASMSU in the past.

“They have been advocating for journalism, especially for the East Lansing community, which directly also impacts students here,” College of Engineering Rep. Daniyal Dar said.

The bill received backlash from several GA members including North American Indigenous Student Organization Rep. Gabriel Gurule with concerns about an individual’s behaviors from ELi in previous committee meetings.

“The proposal is giving money to an organization whose executive director and publisher is transphobic,” Resident Hall Association Rep. Belle Letcher said. “I would love if we could continue working with ELi and perhaps withhold this money and say, ‘Please get rid of [Alice] Dreger,’ and then we'd love to work with you.”

Student Housing Cooperative, or SHC, Rep. Sky Stillwell echoed similar concerns and plans on going to the Board of Directors to advocate for the removal of Dreger.

6:20 “I cannot vote yes on this donation because of the actions of their executive director and her treatment towards the members within the SHC,” Stillwell said. “She is slanderous against the Co-op, she calls us “druggies” on Twitter and it’s just not something I’m comfortable with donating our money to.”

Dar motioned to rescind the bill which was ultimately rescinded.

Bill 58-50

Introduced by Stillwell, Bill 58-50 amended the ASMSU Constitution to change “Student Housing Cooperative” to “Spartan Housing Cooperative” to stay up to date with the names of the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students, or CORES, and Council of Progressive Students, or COPS, groups.

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Bill 58-50 unanimously passed.

Bill 58-51

This bill advocates for faculty to suspend assignment due dates for 48 hours after any university sanctioned break and passed unanimously. The two-day delay is expected to include exams as well.

Proposed by College of Veterinary Medicine Rep. Travis Boling, the resolution was adjusted from ““Wellness Days” or Fall Break”” to “any University Sanctioned Breaks.”

“I have spoken to many different students and surveyed hundreds of students on this very issue,” James Madison College Rep. Shaurya Pandya said. 0:34 “I have spoken to the associate provost about this issue, I’ve spoken to the associate dean of James [Madison] on this issue and they both agree with this kind of proposition.”

Bill 58-52

Vice President for Internal Administration Jordan Kovach introduced Bill 58-52 to ratify the Class Council Codes of Operation which passed.

“COVID happened and everything went really crazy and so it was never fully codified to accept them, but we’ve been operating under them,” Kovach said.

Bill 58-53

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior and Sophomore Class Councils struggled with membership, therefore they were combined.

This bill, also introduced by Kovach, was written to ratify the amended Sophomore/Junior Class Council Code of Operation for the rest of the 58th session.

Bill 58-53 unanimously passed.

Bill 58-55

Bill 58-55 advocates for in-person class options for at least 51% of all classes after Jan. 31.

The bill also advocates for the administration to loosen attendance policies for students with a positive test for COVID-19 for up to two weeks so they’re not taken away from unexcused or excused absences.

“There are definitely a handful too that wanted in-person classes, but you know, I also understand that we have people who want to be online, who feel safer in classes that are immunocompromised, and I think it’s important too that we accommodate them.” College of Communication Arts and Sciences Rep. Jack Harrison said.

From Stanley’s discussion earlier in the meeting, he explained that MSU plans to return to in-person classes after Jan. 31. As a result, College of Business Rep. Kevin Kraef didn’t see a need to advance on this bill.

“I think that it would be relatively, dare I say, irresponsible to advocate for something when we don’t know if there could be changes to something in the future if there could be another variant,” Kraef said. “I don’t see why we should continue to advocate for this and try to see the majority of classes be in person when so many developments could happen.”

Gurule agreed with Kraef and noted that the increase of the attendance policy to two weeks for students with a positive COVID-19 test is inconsistent with the current Center of Disease Control’s guidance.

Pandya said that if COVID-19 policies change greatly to be more restricting, the bill would be nullified. 

Lyman Briggs College Rep. Zaaki Mandwee supported the bill saying that a written resolution would be helpful for the University administration to keep their word.

“I think the idea that President Stanley has the best medical perspective on this whole scenario is also a point that should be recognized as not accurate because there are many, many doctors who have stated that being in the classroom does not spread COVID so there’s many conflicting ideas about this whole staying in the classroom or going online,” Mandwee said.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Aarron Iturralde clarified that Stanley is advised by experts in the medical field and has an M.D. in infectious diseases. However, as decided by the Board of Trustees last summer, the modality changes are solely decided by President Stanley.

Alliance for Queer and Allied Students Rep. Cameron Lochrie also said that their constituents received mixed responses from students and believed that the bill didn’t represent the student body's opinion.

With a motion to table the bill to the Academic Committee by College of Arts and Letters Rep. Carl Austin Miller Grondin, it was rescinded and instead decided to vote during the meeting because it was a time-sensitive issue.

With a roll call vote through raising of hands in Zoom, the bill did not pass.

Discussion

Share and discuss “First spring semester ASMSU GA meeting returns virtually ” on social media.