The ASMSU Presidential debate in the Student Services Building Conference Room, on April 18, 2022.
Asian Pacific American Student Organization Rep. Connor Le introduced Bill 59-09 at the first Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, general assembly on Sept. 1.
Passed unanimously, Bill 59-09 is a bill to have ASMSU recognize September as National Suicide Prevention Month. It called for ASMSU to release a statement on Instagram on Sept. 10 advertising mental health resources for students.
“The year 2020, APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) students saw the most drastic drop in mental health, as well as LGBTQIA students,” Le said. “Making sure that those resources are out there, and everybody has access to them is what I want to write this bill about.”
The curation of the bill has meant a lot to Le, as he lost his high school friend in a battle with suicide.
“Ever since that happened I've been a really big advocate with mental health awareness, mental health resources, making sure that those who need it get it,” Le said.
The changing of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Number further triggered the bill to be written. It began as awareness for students on the number change, but as Le wrote the bill he thought it was necessary to expand it even further.
College of Social Science Rep. Alyssa Konesky seconded the bill, and Director of Health, Safety, and Wellness Harsna Chahal helped Le gather resources, make edits to the bill and pointed him in directions that the bill needed.
“The whole subject of mental health and suicide is very important to me as I believe it is to so many other Spartans,” Konesky said. “Just trying to get the word out about it, as so many people have been impacted by others either losing friends or relatives to suicide or … suffering for mental health, depression and anxiety.”
Konesky said bringing awareness to various mental health resources could potentially help many students.
“There’s a stigma with mental health,” Le said. “People feel scared to reach out. People feel like if they reach out to loved ones they’re going to be like, ‘It’s all in your head. You don’t really need that help.’ I wanted to make sure that … people don’t have this stigma, making sure people know that people care about them and it’s not all in their head. Making sure that if they get the help, they’ll have the resources. They’ll have access to all these resources to get help.”
The following are resources listed in the statement:
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