During last night’s Michigan Student Assembly meeting, members passed resolutions to form committees to address challenges facing campus groups and help better relations between students and student athletes. They also put in a bid to host a conference dealing with gender identity issues.
- Jed Moch/Daily
- Michigan Student Assembly members, led by Sabrina Shingwani (center), watch as a man voiced his concerns about Gaza.
Early into the meeting, members voted to approve a student organization task force designed to “investigate any and all challenges facing student organizations on campus.”
The resolution to create the task force was authored by LSA Reps. Gibran Baydoun and Chris Armstrong.
The task force will conduct interviews with student organizations and provide reports with recommendations for improvements to the assembly. The task force will address challenges including recruitment, funding, advertising and finding venues for events.
Armstrong said he believed the task force would prove useful in fostering more involvement in student organizations.
“There’s a lot of red tape for students who want to be active on campus,” he said. “And we want to deconstruct that red tape.”
The resolution passed with no objections.
MSA also approved a bid for the University to host the 2011 Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender and Ally College Conference. The conference is held at a different college in the Midwest each year.
The University put in a bid last year to host the conference, but was unsuccessful. The assembly will find out if the University won the right to host the conference at this year’s conference in February.
In the past, the University has hosted to the conference.
The assembly’s Chief of Staff Ashley Schwedt, who is helping in the effort, said she thinks the University is a likely candidate.
“I think we have a good chance,” she said. “I think that Michigan is a pretty obvious choice to have it.”
The resolution passed in a 21-0 vote with four abstentions.
The final resolution approved at last night’s meeting called for the creation of the Athletic Relations Select Committee.
Athletics personnel have previously approached MSA to address interactions between student-athletes, the student body and athletic policies, according to the resolution.
LSA Rep. Andrew Chinsky, who authored the resolution, was accepted as chair of the committee.
The purpose of the committee will be to strengthen the relationship between student-athletes and other University students. It is also intended to heighten fan participation and morale. The committee also hopes to work with athletic personnel to address concerns related to both students and student-athletes.
Chinsky said he hopes the committee will enhance the experience of attending all types of student sporting events.
“There are a lot of things that we could be doing to improve the experience for students, whether it’s football or any of the other sports,” he said. “And so hopefully we can work with the athletic office and the different teams to increase an awareness and appreciation for all the different sports.”
The resolution passed with no opposition.
— Mallory Beberman contributed to this report.