Blue party announces election platform

By Jewel Gopwani

Daily Staff Reporter

Members of the newly-formed Blue Party want student voters to "go blue" in next week's Michigan Student Assembly elections because of the party's fourteen-point platform and its philosophy on accomplishing tasks.

"The key in life ... and in getting things done is, first you have to decide where you're going and then you have to decide who's coming with you," said Blue Party Vice President candidate Andy Coulouris, describing the process of the party's format

Part one of a

ion last month.

"The party is trying to return MSA back to the students," Blue Party Business candidate Tom Panhoff said.

The formation of the Blue Party shocked and dismayed some assembly members and prompted a proposal by Dave Burden, who has since resigned from MSA, to abolish the use of parties in elections.

Now that the controversy surrounding the establishment of the Blue Party has subsided, the party has presented about 20 projects it plans to work on if its members are elected to MSA this term.

LSA junior Bram Elias, who is running for president on the Blue Party ticket, said under the party's platform, he and Coulouris want to expand the Student Coursepack service, address amending the Code of Student Conduct, continue working toward a student regent and form a direct constituency between MSA representatives and members of the student body.

Broader Blue Party objectives include increasing lighting on the North and Central campuses and reforming the way in which student groups apply for funding.

Elias said the party wants to make applying for funding for community service organizations and other student groups less complicated.

Another of the party's goals is to "organize grassroots lobbying efforts," Elias said, in reaction to the MSA resolution passed earlier this year to condemn U.S. sanctions on Iraq.

Also on the Blue Party's agenda are programs to obtain discounts for student group travel, continue voter registration and education and initiate a student group outreach program.

The student group project, said candidate and LSA sophomore Abe Raffi, is based on the concept of six degrees of separation. "Student groups can do this six degrees of separation thing to pool resources together more effectively," Raffi said.

The party also plans to set up a system by which student groups can use an MSA-run copy service "where copies are provided at cost for student groups," said Blue Party member and LSA Rep. Vikram Sarma.

The Blue Party's objectives also include establishing sign language, which was approved as a course last month, as an option to fulfill the four semester language requirement in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

Adding to the party's academic intentions, the group wants to organize a peer mentorship program between graduate and undergraduate students, reinitiate mid-term course evaluations in LSA and initiate them in other schools.

four- part MSA elections series:

03-16-99