Student Assembly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Student Assembly is a common name the legislative branch of many university student governments in the United States. Universities that call their legislative councils "Student Assembly" include Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, the College of William and Mary, and the State University of New York (SUNY).
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[edit] Michigan State University
Michigan State's Student Assembly comprises one half of the ASMSU undergraduate student government, along with the Academic Assembly. At MSU, the Student Assembly has control over student-life affairs, and controls three seats in the University Academic Governance System, as well as 96.5% of the nearly $870,000 ASMSU budget. The number of representatives per college varies on the population of the college, like the U.S. House of Representatives.
The ASMSU Student Assembly has five officers and forty-five staff members, with three of those being executive staff. The Chair, Vice-Chairperson of Internal Affairs, Vice-Chairperson of External Affairs, Vice-Chairperson of Student Funding, and Vice-Chairperson of Student Programming are elected each April by the newly-elected representatives. The Assembly usually - but not always - votes its own members to leadership positions. The staff members are hired by a Human Resources hiring committee. They include the Director and Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs, the Director of Community Affairs, the Director of Legal Services, and the Director of Student Defenders. Three of these staff members, the Director and Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs and the Director of Community Affairs, make up the E-Staff, a lobbying group that works closely with the ASMSU Academic Assembly Director of Education Policy to lobby the Michigan State Legislature on behalf of the almost 40,000 undergraduate students of Michigan State University. As of May 2006, the ASMSU Student Assembly is in its 43nd session.
[edit] Structure
Below is the basic structure for the ASMSU Student Assembly. For the entire organizational flowchart, please see the article on ASMSU
| Student Assembly 47 elected seats 18 appointed seats |
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| Student Assembly Chair | ||||||
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| Vice Chair for Internal Affairs |
Vice Chair for External Affairs |
Vice Chair for Programming |
Vice Chair for Funding |
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| Freshman Class Council Senior Class Council |
Legislative Affairs Community Affairs |
Programming Board | Funding Board | |||
| Legal Services | ||||||
| Red Cedar Log Yearbook | ||||||
[edit] University of Michigan
The Michigan Student Assembly (MSA)[1] is the University of Michigan's central student government. It is composed of the Assembly, the Steering Committee, and the Central Student Judiciary.
The Assembly represents both undergraduate and graduate students, where the number of representatives per college varies on the population of the college. The College of Literature, Science and Arts (LSA) has almost half of the seats on the assembly (19), since it is by far the university's largest college. Following that is the Rackham Graduate School (7), Engineering (6), Business (3), as well as several schools with single student representation.
MSA is governed by a president and vice-president who are popularly elected by the student body at-large. Each college at the University of Michigan is given a representative number of seats (based on enrollment figures). Each representative on the Assembly was voted on by popular vote of their college or school. Elections for representatives and officers are highly competitive.
The executive positions include the President, Vice President, Student General Counsel, Treasurer, and Chief of Staff.
The 19 committees and commissions of MSA accomplish much of the work on the Assembly. These range from the External Relations Committee, to the Peace and Justice Commission, to the Budget Priorities Committee to the Voice Your Vote Commission. The Assembly runs many successful programs, including Airbus (an inexpensive airport shuttle service), a Rate Your Landlords website, Advice Online, a website with statistical information on every class and professor on campus, and is active in registering students to vote and get out the vote activities.
[edit] College of William and Mary
The Student Assembly of the College of William and Mary (SA) is the official student government of William and Mary. It is designed to represent all students at the college, both undergraduate and graduate. At William and Mary, the SA has control of over $500,000 in student activities fees, over $100,000 in reserve funding, and is the primary source of student representation to the college administration, the City of Williamsburg, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[edit] Structure
The SA is divided into three branches, executive, legislative, and judicial, much like the United States government. The executive is headed by a President and Vice President, who run together on a ticket and are directly elected by all students each March. The executive branch also contains many non-elected officials, including a staff led by the Chief of Staff, a communications office, and many executive departments, such as the Department of Student Life and the Department of Public Affairs.
The legislative branch is divided into three parts: the Senate, the Undergraduate Council, and the Graduate Council. The Senate is the upper house; it is charged with writing legislation that distributes student activity funds, expressing the will of the student body, and organizing the internal structure of the SA. Also, it confirms the principal officers of the executive departments and independent agencies. It is made up of 16 undergraduate students (four from each class), and 6 graduate students (one from the five graduate schools, plus an at-large seat). The Undergraduate Council consists of officers from each undergraduate class: a President, Vice President for Advocacy, Vice President for Social Affairs, Treasurer, and Secretary. The Graduate Council consists of officers from each graduate school. Only the Senate can pass binding legislation; however, the Councils may veto constitutional amendments.
The judicial branch is the Review Board, which resolves disputes between all bodies. It functions much like the Supreme Court of the United States, in that it is a panel of justices deciding cases. There are six associate justices and one Chairman, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate every year.
Finally, there are three independent agencies, not affiliated with any branch: the Elections Commission, led by a powerful Chairman and charged with overseeing the successful implementation of elections every semester, the Agency for Internal Affairs, which deals with matters internal to the SA, and the First Year Council, which orients freshmen to the SA. There are also various independent class councils such as the 2008 Class Council, which consist of students who want to help class officers plan events; these councils are not officially a part of the SA.
As of the now, the Assembly is in its 314th session (the numbering represents the number of years since the founding of the College), or its 92nd year (the organization itself being founded in 1915).
