 "Photo: http://www.tbtnannarbor.org/")
The Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) is supposed to be an elected body that not only manages student affairs, but also serves as liaison between the student body and school administrators, including the regents. Yet, like any other student group, MSA is not without controversy.
Each year, about $8 is taken from each student to support the MSA, yet it is not often clear exactly where this money goes. One would expect that the MSA would disclose their disbursement of funds, as much of it goes to fund student groups. However, visitors to the MSA’s new website will find that the “Finances” section is devoid of documents. In contrast, the last website had budget information posted going back a few years.
It is possible to attempt to reconstruct the MSA’s budget through their meeting minutes, but the MSA has not posted any minutes for their meetings since January 12th, and the minutes archive only goes back to the beginning of this school year. The MSA is aware of the lagging of their public records. In the December 1, 2009 meeting, Rackham Representative Timothy Hull stated, in the Community Concerns section according to the minutes, “Finally, I’ve had trouble staying informed on MSA. I haven’t been able to get any minutes from this semester. I came here looking for a meeting last week and was informed that there wasn’t one – that’s against the code. I hope the new website will address these issues.”
The only budget information made publicly available is in the December 8, 2009 meeting minutes, where MSA Treasurer Vishal Bajaj states, “We allocated $142,009.72 though Budget Priority Committee and $22,000 from Community Service Committee. Those numbers are up $366,315.85 – we funded an additional $66,000 to student groups this year over last year.”
Another financial controversy came with the in-meeting resignation of Rackham representative Timothy Hull, allegedly over a conflict for the funding of a “retreat” for MSA members, before the winter break. According to an article written by School of Engineering Representative Sean Walser, “We’ll all be driving down to joyous Okemos, Mich. to spend some time with the Mahantis, chillin, playing ping pong, eating, and talking about MSA’ said MSA President Abhishek Mahanti in an e-mail to the Assembly. The event was exclusive to MSA representatives, executives, committee and commission chairs and Central Student Judiciary justices. Students at large were not invited.” While MSA spent student money on food and travel expenses, according to the 2010 application for student group funding, “It is generally the policy of BPC [Budget Priority Committee] and CSC [Community Service Committee] to not fund the following: Capital goods (products able to be reused following the event), T-shirts, student lodging, travel, or gas, food and drink.” The only way to get funding for those expenses is a two-thirds vote by a two thirds vote of one of the two aforementioned committees.
Beyond this, MSA representatives do not limit themselves to campus affairs. Rackham Representative Michael Benson has used his speaking time to rally against cuts in the Ann Arbor Fire Department. Fellow Rackham Representative Kate Stenvig said, according to the minutes, on the January 12th meeting concerning the Martin Luther King Jr. rally, “There is also a new student movement in
Be the first to comment on this article!