Blue Party stirs conflict as MSA elections near

With Michigan Student Assembly elections less than one month away, a new party has emerged from the offices of the MSA and the LSA Student Government.

The newly founded Blue Party has prompted changes within the assembly and could drastically affect next month's elections.

Winning numerous seats on MSA after last semester's elections, the Students' Party gained control of the assembly, but that control could be threatened by defections to the Blue Party.

MSA Treasurer Bram Elias said he and former MSA member Andrew Coulouris helped found the new party. Both are former members of the Students' Party.

"The Students' Party was starting to get out of touch with the people doing work on MSA," Elias said.

The Blue Party currently has 16 members, six of whom are former Students' Party members.

The new party, which was founded earlier this month, raises questions about stability within the assembly.

"My initial concern was that people would take it as being a betrayal of other representatives," said MSA President Trent Thompson, a Students' Party member.

"I was scared there would be a dichotomy of sorts in the assembly," Thompson said. "But people are starting to get back on track."

The announcement of the Blue Party has struck a chord with one member of the assembly. Engineering Rep. Dave Burden announced his resignation from the assembly after its meeting Tuesday night.

Burden said he has considered resigning from MSA for 18 months, but he officially decided when the Blue Party announced its formation to the assembly two weeks ago.

Burden said his problem with the Blue Party involves how it was formed. "The Blue Party was formed strictly on the basis of personality rather than professional work," he said.

In addition to the Blue Party, Burden said there were other issues that prompted him to resign. "The Assembly is moving away from addressing student issues," he said.

Burden resigned from his executive position on Feb. 2 after the assembly passed a resolution condemning U.S. sanctions on Iraq.

LSA Rep. Elise Erickson, who was elected to the assembly as a Students' Party member last fall, is now a member of the Blue Party. She said the new group will take a different approach to forming its platform.

"I believe in Bram and Andy's mission. It's going to be a team effort when we make decisions," Erickson said.

But Thompson said he doesn't think parties should have strict ideologies. "If we lived in a perfect world, a party would be a group of people with different points of view."

Now that the party is established, some representatives said they see it as a positive change for this semester's election for both MSA and LSA-SG. "It will allow for more people to run," said assembly LSA Rep. Kym Stewart.

Thompson, who was elected to the assembly on the Students' Party ticket last spring, added that he welcomes the increased competition.

Students Party leader Ron Page said the Blue Party is "a good thing."

"It's terrible when there's one major party," said Page, an LSA-SG member.

Several MSA members said the new party may change the face of this semester's election. "I really see this election being really intense because of the party split," Stewart said.

Students who plan on running in next month's MSA elections have until tomorrow at 5 p.m. to submit an application.

Elections Director Andrew Serowik said although only about six people have turned in candidate applications, he expects more than 50 people to run in this semester's elections.

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