Under a new name and a new semester, the Student Assembly of the Central Student Government — formerly known as Michigan Student Assembly — made appointments for positions at their first meeting of 2012 last night.
Business senior Matthew Eral and LSA junior Aditya Sathi were both re-elected as chair and vice-chair of the Assembly for semester-long terms. The Assembly also elected the chairs and vice-chairs of CSG’s standing committees — Finance, Rules, Resolutions, and Communications — which are also semester-long positions. All eight of the chair and vice-chair positions were uncontested.
Eral said he and Sathi are looking forward to bridging the gap between students and CSG and better cater to the needs of the campus community, adding that the organization’s recent name change serves as a foundation for reinvention and invigoration of the group.
“(CSG), in the students’ eyes, maybe hasn’t been the most effective in years past,” Eral said. “Starting with a new name and a lot of new great initiatives right off the bat will help give us a little bit of new momentum that I think student government hasn’t had in a couple years.”
Eral said his and Sathi’s primary objective is to increase transparency and make the initiatives of the Assembly more visible to the campus community.
In addition to working toward increasing awareness, Sathi said his and Eral’s elections provided them with the opportunity to work with the Representative Outreach Task Force — a group created last year to ensure representative accountability and improve communication throughout CSG.
Though the Assembly achieved quorum at every meeting last semester, many representatives did not attend the meetings. Sathi said the Representative Outreach Task Force is dedicated to “making the legislative branch live up to its expectations.”
Sathi added that his re-election serves as reassurance for his work in CSG thus far, and that is excited for the new semester.
“It shows that I’ve done my job …” he said. “I think I’m doing the right things, and I need to continue in that direction.”
Eral expressed similar anticipation for the semester.
“I’m definitely honored that I got re-elected by the Assembly,” he said. “I’m excited to serve again for another semester.”
At the meeting, CSG President DeAndree Watson discussed the recent name change, noting that the organization is still in a transition period. He encouraged representatives to use the name CSG more frequently around campus.
Watson said he is optimistic about students’ adoption of the name change, adding that at yesterday’s Winterfest, students already expressed awareness of the name change and CSG’s newly formed objectives.
“I think the fact that (students) are aware of what we do is a positive sign,” Watson said.
-Danielle Stoppelmann and Emily A. Kastl contributed to this report.