Walls usually covered twice a year with colorful flyers advertising Michigan Student Assembly candidates will be bare during the election campaign this March.
Responding to student complaints about flyering, MSA passed a resolution last night banning the posting of campaign flyers on all campus walls except those in residence halls.
“I’m just excited to see that people will be on the Diag meeting students and hearing concerns, rather than killing trees and littering hallways,” MSA Rules and Elections Committee Chair Jason Mironov said. The resolution “increases the democracy of the process, in that it’s harder for frivolous claims to negatively affect candidates.”
“I don’t think candidates should flyer,” said Communications Committee Chair Courtney Skiles, who supported the ban. “I think flyering allows them to resort to campaigning on a name, their face, and not who they are or what they have to offer MSA or their constituents.”
But some representatives disagreed with the resolution, saying the regulations violated their constitutional right to free speech and overlooked the advantages of flyering.
“If used correctly, flyering can be a very effective process,” said Brad Sugar, Academic Affairs Commission co-chair. “If there were pertinent information on these flyers, such as campaign ideals, candidate info and platform promises, I think students would appreciate it.”
With the U.S. Supreme Court slated to hear the case against the University’s admissions policies in April, the MSA voted to sponsor tomorrow’s Outlooks on Affirmative Action event.
The event will host four speakers, including University Assistant General Counsel Jonathan Alger and Philosophy Prof. Carl Cohen, stating cases for and against affirmative action in admissions policies.
“We felt that the University of Michigan is obviously in the spotlight on affirmative action right now, and regardless of the outcome of the cases, students’ education is going to be affected,” said MSA Communications Committee Chair Pete Woiwode. “We thought we should present a factual, educational opportunity for students to come and learn about the issue in depth, and then decide for themselves how they feel.”
In order to maintain a civil atmosphere at the forum, Woiwode said the speakers will give individual addresses and will not engage in debate.
“We are presenting an evenhanded case, because we want students to have the agency to make the decision,” he added. “There will be questions, but we will do our best to keep a fluid, unheated feel to the event, so that the questions and answers will be in an educational format.”
Citing the attention paid to human rights issues at universities across the country, MSA agreed to vote next week on a resolution supporting the establishment of a Human Rights Center at the University.
“It would lean more towards providing for scholarships and providing internship opportunities,” MSA Treasurer Liz Mullane said. “(The resolution) is basically realizing that in a lot of countries and in the U.S., a lot of people’s rights are ignored … (That) doesn’t seem to have such a big emphasis on the University.”
The resolution also seeks to organize human rights events and to “develop the University’s curriculum by allowing for more courses on human rights topics and assisting faculty to incorporate human rights into their present courses.”
Following up on a motion passed at last week’s meeting, MSA agreed to mail letters to all University faculty expressing the need to hire and retain female and minority faculty and support their advancement.
including University Assistant General Counsel Jonathan Alger and Philosophy Prof. Carl Cohen, stating cases for and against affirmative action in admissions policies.
“We felt that the University of Michigan is obviously in the spotlight on affirmative action right now, and regardless of the outcome of the cases, students’ education is going to be affected,” said MSA Communications Committee Chair Pete Woiwode. “We thought we should present a factual, educational opportunity for students to come and learn about the issue in depth, and then decide for themselves how they feel.”
In order to maintain a civil atmosphere at the forum, Woiwode said the speakers will give individual addresses and will not engage in debate. “We are presenting an evenhanded case, because we want students to have the agency to make the decision,” he added.
“There will be questions, but we will do our best to keep a fluid, unheated feel to the event, so that the questions and answers will be in an educational format.”
Citing the attention paid to human rights issues at universities across the country, MSA agreed to vote next week on a resolution supporting the establishment of a Human Rights Center at the University.
“It would lean more towards providing for scholarships and providing internship opportunities,” MSA Treasurer Liz Mullane said. “(The resolution) is basically realizing that in a lot of countries and in the U.S., a lot of people’s rights are ignored … (That) doesn’t seem to have such a big emphasis on the University.”
The resolution also seeks to organize human rights events and to “develop the University’s curriculum by allowing for more courses on human rights topics and assisting faculty to incorporate human rights into their present courses.”