The Central Student Government is comprised of well-intentioned representatives, but a blanket of apathy has smothered their promises. Representatives are trapped in a system that isn’t focused on what the students want from their government. Our goal is to reinvigorate that system and change CSG into a student-focused government. When we elect our student leaders on campus to represent our interests within the University community and beyond, it’s necessary that those leaders remember the students and their ideas. It’s a fact that is easily forgotten, but needs to become the motto of student government. This year, we want to revert the focus of CSG back to students, back to student life and student organizations and back to you. We invite you to become part of our effort — our movement — to change the focus of student government here on campus and to join our party, youMICH, as we seek to make student government all about you.
The youMICH party is led by Business School junior Shreya Singh and LSA junior Ethan Hahn, running for president and vice president, respectively. During our service as CSG treasurer and chairman of the LGBT Issues Commission, we have invested our time into CSG throughout our college careers and have fought to maintain an emphasis on the needs of the student body. Singh has worked extensively with student organizations on campus, ensuring the transformation of the funding process with the CSG Student Organization Funding Commission, while Hahn has worked alongside administrators and faculty to continually improve student life and the campus environment, specifically initiating the Department of Queer Studies campaign. If elected president and vice president of CSG, we pledge to refocus student government’s priorities on the three specific areas that impact you the most: your student academics, your student organizations and your campus environment.
We have formed the youMICH party to ensure that candidates running in this spring’s CSG elections are focused on the constituency they serve — the wants and needs of Michigan students. Potential youMICH representatives’ projects will include the following: breakfast with Brady Hoke on the Diag, a website called Rate My Landlords to increase dialogue between students and realtors, continued town hall meetings and an initiative to address police noise violations with the Greek community. Our party’s main goals are to review and improve the University financial aid process, to work with the Center for Campus Involvement to create and maintain a University-wide student organization events calendar and to sponsor more high-attendance events, concerts and pep rallies for students. For more background on our platform, check out our Facebook page at Vote youMICH. We are proud of the projects we’ve proposed and hope that others will join the movement we’ve started on campus.
Though we are a new student political party, we have experience both on and off CSG that has given us insight regarding what things we want to change and the practical know-how to facilitate those changes. However, what we change will be driven by your needs. We believe we can unite the campus as we all are composed of diverse backgrounds, different communities, experiences and ambitions. We invite you to come join us in our venture for a new and improved student body government. We want to make it all about you, including your academics, your student organizations and your campus environment. We want you to be part of the movement.
Shreya Singh is CSG treasurer and a Business junior. Ethan Hahn is chairman of the CGS LGBT Issues Commission and an LSA junior.