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Jordan Kovach elected 2022-2023 student body president

April 20, 2022
<p>Candidate for president of ASMSU Michigan State third-year Jo Kovach answers one of the moderator&#x27;s questions. The ASMSU Presidential debate was held in the Student Services Building Conference Room on April 18, 2022.</p>

Candidate for president of ASMSU Michigan State third-year Jo Kovach answers one of the moderator's questions. The ASMSU Presidential debate was held in the Student Services Building Conference Room on April 18, 2022.

Photo by Jared Osborne | The State News

After a long night of debate, the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, has elected Jordan Kovach as the president of the 59th session.

The social relations and policy junior and former Vice President for Internal Administration won with 32 votes, against international relations senior PJ Sarotte Wednesday night. 

Kovach has been involved with ASMSU since their freshman year as a member of the freshman class council. They said that being a part of the organization helped them to navigate a large and unfamiliar campus environment as a first-generation college student. 

“It became like a safe space for me- for an hour a week I was there helping students, changing things that I could,” Kovach said. “And so running for president has really brought that right to the forefront- I want to help people and I want to change the organization so that we can help students better."

Kovach’s platform in their election campaign revolved around advocacy for students, particularly in collaboration with MSU’s CORES and COPS organizations. Kovach stressed the importance of creating welcoming and supporting spaces for marginalized students at MSU. 

“I want to spend my life helping people and I hope they see me as someone who wants to help them,” Kovach said. “I'm a non-binary person. I'm a first-generation student. I never thought I was going to come to college. And I want someone in the nosebleeds of the freshman colloquium to see me as someone who has broken myself out of every box I've been put in.”

Kovach’s election took place Wednesday rather than Tuesday due to a power outage at the Student Services building on Tuesday night, forcing the typical ASMSU election format to change.

A third presidential candidate, social relations & policy and philosophy junior Carl Austin Miller Grondin, withdrew from the race prior to the election.

The general assembly also approved ASMSU’s 2022-2023 budget after a 40-minute discussion Wednesday night.

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