The University of Michigan’s Central Student Government met Tuesday evening in the Wolverine Room of the Michigan Union to address internal challenges, confirm nominations for assembly positions and introduce new resolutions to advocate for housing and health care expansion on North Campus. The CSG Assembly also discussed the creation of a new assembly position for military-affiliated students. 

During the community concerns portion of the meeting, Business sophomore Isaac Gardner said he believes it is not fair for the Assembly members to use CSG funds for air travel when the Assembly limited funding allocated for student organization travel on the basis of environmental impact. Gardner, when he served as a member of CSG last year, proposed a resolution to eliminate energy use as a criterion for funding allocation. Gardner said he understands the need for CSG travel in the budget, but would like to see a greater effort in allowing student organizations the same travel expenses. 

“What I really want to see is a student government that is for the students,” Gardner said. “I do understand that the Central Student Government does need to travel and that it helps us. But at the same time, all the other student orgs, they’ve got good, equally valid reasons to travel. And so on the travel end, I’d like to see regulations loosen for travel.”

The Assembly then heard a presentation from Erik Lundberg, the University’s chief investment officer, about managing one of the nation’s largest endowments, highlighting the importance of the investment department in light of rising complaints from the student body about budget cuts for student organizations across campus. 

To address these concerns, Public Policy junior Margaret Peterman pitched the BRIDGE program, modeled after the University of Southern California’s Undergraduate Student Government program, to address CSG’s mixed relationships with student organizations and make CSG a more inclusive space. The program is currently in its outreach phase, aiming to collect information from registered student organizations on Maize Pages and social media in order to gauge the needs of these organizations for future support through funding, visibility and advocacy.

“So right now, I know you guys have heard a lot of criticism about CSG,” Peterman said. “It’s that we don’t represent the constituents who actually elected us. This is what this program is trying to address.”

During the reports section of the meeting, Devin Woodruff, Assembly speaker, spoke on internal Assembly concerns, specifically that the effort he puts into CSG hasn’t been recognized by the current executive branch. He also said he feels his concerns have not been taken seriously.  

“These past couple months, I’ve endured nothing but just trauma, people blatantly … trying to track me down,” Woodruff said. “There (are) officials who have continued to put me down when I continue to put so many hours and time into this organization. And for the executive team to sit there and not acknowledge that there is a real issue within our organization is concerning.”

CSG then unanimously confirmed nominations for various Assembly positions. The confirmed individuals were:

• LSA sophomore Natalie Uelsmann as Deputy Elections Commissioner for Events and Outreach.
• LSA freshman Hansika Reddy Araveti as Deputy Elections Commissioner for Finance.
• Public Policy junior Ella Vick as Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Survivor Empowerment Commission Deputy Policy Director.
• Engineering sophomore Charlie Lettenberger as Disability Empowerment and Advocacy Committee Policy Advisory.
• Business sophomore Harrison Shaevsky as Central Student Judiciary Independent Special Prosecutor.
• LSA sophomore De-Jen Lin on as Out of State Undergraduate Ex-Officio.
• Non-degree undergraduate Juyoung Hwang as International Ex-Officio

The Assembly went on to introduce resolutions. AR-15-036, North Campus University Health Service and Counseling Expansion Act; AR-15-037, North Campus Undergraduate Housing Expansion Continuation Act; and AR-15-038, Pilot UHC Satellite Clinic Stations on North Campus Act, were all re-referred to the resolutions committee. 

Resolutions AR-15-039, Governing Documents Repetition Reduction; AR-15-040, Amending Resolution Formatting; AR-15-041, Clarifying the Committee Appointment Process; AR-15-042, Agenda Reorganization; and AR-15-043, Executive Permanent Commissions Adjustments, were all re-referred to the rules committee. 

The business items on the agenda included AR-15-031, the Election Information Access Act, and AR-15-035, A Resolution Honoring the Legacy of the Seven Historic Mellow Men both of which passed unanimously. AR-15-032, First Year Intern Program Intern Cap Changes, passed via secret ballot without substantial debate.

Introduced by LSA junior Larissa King CA-15-004, the Seats of Service Act, would create an ex-officio position for military-affiliated students. King said her experience being a military-affiliated student inspired her to create the position.

“I don’t know if any of you know I’m a military-affiliated student myself,” King said. “My dad served in the army for about 20 years and just recently got out about a month ago. So this is a resolution that’s very near and dear to my heart. I’m only able to attend this university, actually, because of the benefits I received for being a military-affiliated student. So this is kind of one way for me to give back for the reasons that I was provided this opportunity.”

CA-15-004 passed unanimously.

Daily Staff Reporter Sarah Palushi can be reached at sarpal@umich.edu.