Multiple testimonies from students in support of the new bill were read aloud during public comment, including one from secretary of RCAH Council Megan Harris, who said she felt like her community has been left behind in this decision.

"In this attempt to merge us with CAL we lose our main piece that draws people to RCAH, the community built upon the years of students before us," she wrote in her letter to the general assembly.

The bill states that the proposed merger was announced without proper consultation of RCAH students, faculty and staff, which created uncertainty and stress within the RCAH community. It also describes Jeitschko’s remarks made at a previous GA meeting regarding the merger as contradictory to information provided to RCAH students by Interim Dean Glenn Chambers.

The bill also says that the RCAH-CAL Integration Committee — formed to discuss the pros and cons of this merger and how the structure would work — has not been allowed the opportunity to pursue alternative options beyond a merger.

"The RCAH-CAL Integration Committee has been constrained in its ability to explore alternative administrative structures, with calls for meaningful consultation from RCAH faculty and students being disregarded, violating principles outlined in the Laws of Academic Governance," the bill says.

The committee has also been allotted weekly 60-minute meetings for four months, a shorter timeframe than other administrative restructuring efforts, the bill claims.

And, the bill says a survey intended to gather student input was also inadequately publicized, as some CAL stakeholders were only given six hours of notice before a submission deadline. 

"The rushed nature of this merger process, combined with the lack of transparency, failure to uphold shared governance, and exclusion of student voices, demands urgent action to hold the administration accountable," the bill says.

In an email to The State News, MSU spokesperson Amber McCann said one responsibility of the provost is to consider and propose different administrative structures to enhance a college's ability to better deliver a curriculum and serve students.

"To that end, Provost Jeitschko proposed a different administrative structure for RCAH in an effort to preserve curriculum and continue to deliver the experience its students have come to expect, and in which its faculty takes pride," McCann said.

Jeitschko is "disappointed by the mischaracterization of the committee process" by the bill and "believes it does not accurately represent the genuine efforts" made by the committee, McCann said.

"Provost Jeitschko had offered and remains open to a constructive engagement with members of ASMSU," she said. 

The vote of no confidence serves as a final call to action to ensure that those affected by the potential merger remain informed and engaged in resisting the restructuring of RCAH, according to the bill.

"This is quite literally the last card I have to play," said RCAH Rep. Abigail Rodriguez, who introduced the bill.

Rodriguez then moved into explaining the history of RCAH and why it is important for RCAH to remain distinct from CAL.

"RCAH was not meant to create or duplicate what was already being done in the College of Arts and Letters," she said. 

Seconder of the bill, Student Athletic Committee Rep. Izzy Radakovich, among others like James Madison College Reps. Abe Jaafar and Genevive Lucas, said the residential college experience is important and should be preserved.

College of Arts and Letters Rep. Vladimir Shpunt had multiple issues with the contents of the bill. He said it does not include any perspectives from CAL.

"I have also taken it upon myself to speak with a handful of students in the College of Arts and Letters that have all told me that they support (the merger) due to more funding for both the RCAH majors that will come in and the College of Arts and Letters, and to be part of a larger community," Shpunt said. 

Jeitschko told The State News in November 2024 that the merge would make it easier and more affordable to market and grow the humanities at MSU. 

Shpunt added that the bill does not come up with any solutions to the merging process and instead jumps to condemning Jeitschko.

Jewish Student Union Rep. Zach Nessel also took issue with the bill. He said votes of no confidence should be reserved for extreme action.

"What this bill fails to consider is the full duties and responsibilities of the Provost, and generally, I don't like to take what would normally be a spirited disagreement and turn it into attacks on people's character, and that's what I think this bill does," Nessel said.

He called the bill alarmist and aggressive and said it could damage ASMSU’s reputation with the administration, possibly preventing work on issues and other bills between the two parties in the future.

"I think bills like this really damage our reputation, and if we want to be taken seriously in the future, we need to start acting more serious, and this bill does not do that," Nessel said.

Nessel also took an unorthodox approach not seen typically in GA meetings by directly addressing President Connor Le. He asked Le if votes of no confidence make the jobs of the Office of the President easier, if they impair relationships with administrators like the Board of Trustees and if anything actionable has happened as a result of them. (Nessel took this same approach later with Rodriguez, asking questions surrounding the number of RCAH students she spoke with.)

Le said votes of no confidence do not particularly make their jobs harder. 

"At the end of the day, we still represent students," Le said. "The students are seeing a lack of confidence in those who are supposed to be representing them. We have to push those forward, but there's been no sort of hardships on our job at ASMSU because of them."

He added that the relationship between the board and ASMSU has not changed since a vote of no confidence. The board still works with ASMSU and discusses issues the student body has with them, he said.

Nessel also asked if the bill would damage the relationship ASMSU has with Jeitschko, to which Vice President of Academic Affairs Ahmed Amir said he and Le had a conversation with Jeitschko about this bill.

"It was not an uncomfortable conversation," Amir said. "They wanted to understand what ASMSU’s perspective was, and they were genuinely interested in trying to figure out what was going on. They weren't offended by the no confidence vote, in my opinion."

As discussion unfolded, ASMSU adviser Quinn Barker interjected to remind the GA to avoid personal attacks during debate on bills, as members began to discuss the importance of representing students' voices regardless of whether it puts them at odds with university administrators, and called into question those who did not agree.

Low enrollment in RCAH was also a topic of conversation surrounding the bill. Shpunt cited low enrollment numbers for the college, with 139 being enrolled as of fall 2024. He also said that in a conversation he had with Jeitschko, the provost said his intention is to preserve the principles and culture of RCAH.

Rodriguez acknowledged that RCAH has lower numbers compared to other colleges, but said it is growing.

"I don't think that is a reason to pull (RCAH) into a larger college, and quite frankly, I am sick and tired of arts and humanities students, whether it is at this university or across the country at large, being treated as second-class students at their university simply because their degrees don't mean as much as some other degrees financially," Rodriguez said. "Just because we are small does not mean we are less important than anybody else."

Shpunt said his intention was not to call RCAH irrelevant due to low enrollment, and rather that it would benefit from greater funding from CAL and a larger community.

The bill passed with 22 in favor, two against and five abstentions.