With the election only one day away, candidates for the Michigan
Student Assembly continue to vigorously campaign and convince
students why they should be chosen as the leaders of the MSA.
Students First party president and vice president candidates
Jason Mironov and Jenny Nathan said that their commitment to the
students is what makes them ideal to lead MSA next year.
The party currently holds the majority of seats on the assembly.
MSA President Angela Galardi, an LSA senior, is a member of
Students First.
“I think that students should vote for me and the Students
First candidates because we do exactly what our name says: We put
students first in all matters both on and off of campus,”
Mironov said. “Our goal is to make sure all students feel
welcomed to bring any issue that is on their minds to MSA and that
they find that MSA is receptive, responsive and
proactive.”
Nathan said she plans on making sure that students know what MSA
is and how to get in contact with the assembly. “I plan to be
there to listen and respond to the representatives as well,”
she said.
“A student government is at its most productive when it
can foster an environment of trust, openness and mutual respect,
and as vice president I plan to be open to listening to any and all
questions and concerns,” added Nathan, an LSA junior.
Mironov, a Business School junior, said the three most important
issues facing campus are housing, Trotter House renovations and
abating the effects of budget cuts.
But independent president and vice-president candidates Tim
Moore and Anita Leung, said MSA needs to be renovated.
“If you think MSA doesn’t do anything for the
students, vote for us. … If you don’t care about MSA
because you’ve never heard about it, vote for us,” said
Moore, a Business School junior. “We will bring MSA back to
the students, opening lines of communication, improve relationships
with administrators and make MSA productive for once.”
Moore and Leung said they want to begin improving MSA by working
with the Residence Halls Association and the Information Technology
Central Services to improve MSA elections.
“To begin with, we will push through a lot of campaign and
election reform, working with ITCS and RHA and emphasize that
parties and party politics do not belong on student
government,” they said. “Monthly meetings of reps and
the exec will make reps more accountable, and as (executive board)
we will actually hold regular office hours for any student needing
access to us,” they added.
Students in the Defend Affirmative Action Party said they want
to become leaders of MSA for a more specific reason, the
preservation of affirmative action at the University.
More exactly, DAAP members are fighting a ballot initiative
backed by the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative that would seek to
ban race conscious admissions policies in the state.
“We, DAAP, were at the forefront of organizing and leading
the 50,000-person April 1 national march on Washington that secured
that victory (in the Supreme Court), and now we are at the
forefront of leading the campus in defending our victory,”
DAAP presidential candidate Kate Stenvig said.
“No other party running for MSA has even taken an official
stance on this key question facing the campus. … Whether or
not we defeat this attack on affirmative action (the MCRI) will
determine the climate on this campus.”
Steving, an LSA junior, said MSA needed to become more than just
resume filler for assembly members.
“We will make MSA into a student union that stands up and
fights for students’ rights and interests, rather than a
junior partner of the administration,” she said.
“If there was a strong DAAP leadership on MSA right now,
the administration would not be prioritizing cuts to (Sexual
Assault and Prevention and Awareness Center) and other student
services.”
Matt Lapinski, the Other Political Party vice president
candidate, said he believes MSA is in need of a good leader.
“In my past experience I have been responsible for
managing a sizable staff which included conducting meetings and
making sure the entire team of employees was motivated and on task,
not to mention the fiscal responsibilities of being in charge of an
organization,” said Lapinski, LSA junior. “These are
skills that seem to be lacking in student government.”
OPP presidential candidate NickChuck Heidel, an LSA junior, said
that currently MSA is in disarray.
“MSA is currently dysfunctional, redundant and abortively
pedantic,” he said. “I hope my presence in MSA will
ignite an orgy of productiveness.”
The MSA election is tomorrow and Thursday. Students can vote
online at
“http://vote.www.umich.edu.”>vote.www.umich.edu.