On Oct. 28, several members of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) attended the United Michigan Student Government (UMSG) meeting in Kalamazoo, MI at Western Michigan University. USG sent ten students to the conference, including USG president and UMSG Executive Director Ford Schoonover, Vice President of USG and former Bylaw Committee Chair for UMSG Braden Quesenberry, and USG member and Associate Director of UMSG Petra Gablowski.
The conference brought together ten of the public universities and one community college throughout Michigan, including Western Michigan University, University of Michigan Ann Arbor and Dearborn, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Central Michigan University, Lake Superior State University, and Henry Ford Community College.
The main points discussed throughout the conference were to ratify the constitution that all the colleges would adhere to, how to support students across the state, problems and solutions that each college has, and learn what each student government offers their students.
The longest and most detailed part of the conference was ratifying the constitution. The first part was going through the first five articles of the constitution on how the new government would operate as transition happens throughout the years, how long a member of the executive board could maintain their position, as well as how to avoid bias throughout the entire government. They also discussed what level of involvement would be needed from each university in order to maintain their spot on the government, how to call for changes to the constitution, and how to fundraise money. The new constitution was passed by a unanimous vote from all colleges.
The rest of the day included meeting other colleges representatives and executive board members and how they operate their student governments. There was discussion on problems that many college students face, including rising tuition costs, lack of funding for important issues around their campuses, and parking problems. There were also breakout rooms where representatives could learn from each other on how to tackle problems, such as financial, social media, and community outreach from executive board members from each university.
“Overall it was a huge success, we had an amazing turnout and I feel like every person is going to walk away from this conference with new ideas, new ways to tackle their universities challenges, and a sense of unity that we all can bring change to many of the problems that students face,” said Petra Gablowski after the conference. Braden Quesenberry agreed; “It was fantastic to see everyone come together and advocate for the over 200,000 plus students in these universities and colleges.” The next conference will take place in the Spring semester, with the UMSG executive board meeting monthly. If there are any questions about Michigan Tech’s involvement, students can stop by the USG office in MUB 113 to find out more, or attend the weekly USG meetings to hear the report.
