U party pledges ticket reform, Spring Fling

The University Party, the youngest student government party,
hopes to gain seats on the Michigan Student Assembly and on LSA
Student Government in tomorrow’s elections by focusing its
issues on the individual student’s needs.

“The party is running on an overall platform of making
student government, your voice and your Mcard work for you,”
said U Party Chair Bobby Counihan, an Engineering senior.

The U Party, which formed last January, wants to bring a
“spring fling” to Palmer Field the day before winter
term finals begin, Counihan said. The proposed event would include
a day of fun activities and a nighttime concert so that students
can relax before finals.

“We also want to encourage school spirit through athletics
by doing things like campuswide tailgating or changing football
ticket ordering … which (would) allow seating on a
first-come, first-choose basis,” Counihan said.

Junior Erica Levine is running for a LSA representative seat on
MSA, one of nine open seats. “Basically my biggest concerns
are increasing school spirit and unity across the LSA student
body,” Levine said. She added that she wants to focus more on
student issues rather than national and international issues, where
she feels the assembly would have little sway.

Counihan said the U Party would like to change the way Mcards
function and create a “roll over” system, where unused
meal credits from one week would transfer over to the next.
“Additionally, we would like to work out a better system for
guests at the dorms,” he added.

“We would like to change MSA so that it offers more
educational opportunities for students about national or
international issues instead of voting on the issues,”
Counihan said.

He added that the U Party would bring in experts to MSA to
educate the assembly on either side of a controversial issue. This
way, students would hear both sides of an issue before voting on a
resolution.

The U Party has been campaigning by speaking personally with
students. “We want to ... be able to explain to them what
exactly our party is about,” Counihan said.

Independent candidate Ian Fette has been campaigning similarly,
talking one on one with students. Fette is running for a seat on
MSA as an Engineering representative. “Basically I’m
trying to keep my campaign really simple,” said Fette, an
Engineering senior. He said he would like to get reasonably priced
color printing on campus along with more Engineering computing
sites on central campus.

“I’m really big on funding student groups,”
Fette added.

“There are a lot of student groups asking for a lot of
money and MSA just doesn’t have enough to go around, so I
want to see a $2 increase in student fees to help support student
groups.” Fette said he is running as an independent candidate
because he feels that Students First and the U Party have not
accomplished much in MSA. “I’m trying to mix it up, get
in there and get students into student government and get parties
out.”

The U Party’s website is www.theUparty.com.

Students First promises tenants’ rights, more
minors

Students First is counting on its experience and past results in
the Michigan Student Assembly and in LSA Student Government to
sustain its position as the majority party in both governments.

“We’re the only party with a solid record of
accomplishment,” Students First Party Chair Jesse Levine
said.

“Students First focuses on the students and we want to
make sure that all students are represented on this campus. We make
sure that we have leaders from all types of communities on our
campus,” Levine added.

“Students First brings a diverse vision that DAAP and the
U Party just does not have. … While on the assembly,
Students First reps have their own opinions about different issues
and we foster debate on the assembly and we think that’s a
good thing.”

Levine said Students First wants to postpone deadlines for
signing leases so that students do not have to begin house-hunting
as early as September. We are “working with Doug Lewis of
Student Housing and the Ann Arbor city government to restrict
landlords and their power over the students in terms of lease
dates.”

He also said Students First would like to increase Mcard access
to residence halls and expand the places Entrée Plus can be
used.