Conference seeks to unite state student governments

By Jane Krull

Daily Staff Reporter

Taking its first step to create an organized voice of students at Michigan public universities, members of the Michigan Student Assembly hosted the Association of Michigan Universities Conference this weekend.

The association is the brainchild of the Michigan Student Assembly's External Relations Committee as a way to unite Michigan public universities in their lobbying efforts, committee chairwoman Sarah Pray said.

"Rather than being disjointed when voicing concerns in Lansing, we will have a lot more clout with legislature as a single voice of Michigan public university students," said Pray, who co-organized the conference.

Thirty-five representatives from 15 Michigan public universities, except Northern Michigan University, attended the two-day conference.

The representatives at the first conference had the tedious job of working out the functioning structure of the new association, including its mission statement.

"We have established a solid foundation and hopefully next semester we can start creating a lobbying platform," Pray said.

Future AMU conferences will be held four times a year at alternating public universities in Michigan. The next conference will take place in February at Lake Superior State University.

University Vice President of Government Relations Cynthia Wilbanks spoke to the representatives about the importance of student voices in the Legislature.

"The relevance of higher education is definitely something that we want to keep in the forefront of Michigan residents," Wilbanks said. "We want to focus on educating the next wave of leaders and workers."

Shari Katz, chairwoman of MSA's Voice Your Vote Commission, gave a presentation highlighting the programs and success accomplished at the University.

Also at the conference, Peace and Justice Committee Jessica Curtin asked for support in the lawsuits filed against the University challenging the use of race as a factor in admissions to the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Law School.

"Part of what I hope comes out of this conference is for Michigan universities to unite and defeat the lawsuits against U of M," said Curtin, a Rackham student. "If we can effect public opinion and mobilize the students around it, we can definitely affect the outcome of the trial."

Many representatives were impressed at the variety of ideas expressed at the conference.

"I like the information sharing that is going on. It is going to make us a lot more aware of what's going around the state," Central Michigan University Student Government Senator Adam Woodruff said.

MSA External Relations Committee member Alex McDonough, an LSA sophomore, said he was confident in the future of AMU.

"I am optimistic about the enthusiasm the new AMU members have shown," said McDonough, who co-organized this weekend's conference. "I think that this is going to be a permanent organization that honestly lets Michigan students affect their government."