Booze, Blues (Party) and Bumpers
MSA Reps Allegdly Hit Bottle, Cars

By Michael Saltsman
Allegations of delinquency, drunkenness, and illegal campaigning at the Michigan Student Assembly's recent trip to a national student government conference are causing a fracas. MSA President and Vice President, Matt Nolan and Jessica Cash, have admitted to using e-mail to campaign for the Blue Party while on the MSA-funded trip to the Association of Big Ten Schools Conference (ABTS) - a violation of the University’s guidelines for proper computer usage, and a possible violation of MSA’s election code. Nolan and Cash also admit to missing 25 percent of the conference’s official issue sessions. Additionally, other representatives accused Nolan and Cash of being obviously intoxicated at an official event. To top off the trip, both rental vans were returned with over $3,000 in damage.

The weekend of October 5th, the Michigan Student Assembly sent eight delegates to the Association of Big Ten Schools Conference. Nolan, Cash and six other MSA members left Thursday October 4th and traveled to the University of Minnesota. “ABTS gives us an opportunity to sit down, talk through things we do on our campus and come up with ideas to address these issues,” said Nolan. “It is more or less an info-sharing session.”
Traditionally, MSA pays for the delegates to attend the conference. This year, the assembly allocated $2,000 to pay for three nights in a hotel, two rental vans and a number of other incidental costs.

Besides networking and other expected events, a number of allegations have arisen regarding MSA’s delegation to ABTS.
The conference consists of four sessions, each one addressing a specific area of student government.

A number of the delegates, including MSA President Matt Nolan, VP Jessica Cash and Student General Council John Carter, skipped the fourth issue session.
“Attendance wasn’t necessary at all sessions,” explained Cash,” but it’s expected they are doing something relevant for what they are supposed to be at the conference for.” Everyone did not hold this view.

“It was my understanding that our attendance was required at all the issue sessions,” said Students’ Rights co-chair Robert Goodspeed.

According to Cash, the fourth issue session was about freshman involvement, and she feels the Michigan Student Assembly has that under control. Instead of attending, Cash explained that the Blue Party delegation, Nolan included, was privately meeting with some members from Penn State. Nolan explains the absence differently.

“I was having a meeting with the chair of the Association of Big Ten Students; he does a lot of stuff with the recreational sports program in Illinois. We had a one on one conversation about rec sports on campus at U-M.”

Evidently, the Blue Party delegation also used this time to ‘spam’ campus with emails recruiting students to “run with Blue” in the upcoming MSA election. Not only does this action violate the Information Technology Department’s policy regarding ‘spam’ emails, but it also creates an unnecessary disturbance for many students.

“We get enough e-mail as is, nobody wants 12 of them,” said Engineering Rep. Greg Hayes. “That’s what I got.” Another student reported getting 39 copies of the same email.

The ITD policy was created as a guideline for responsible computer system usage:
“To respect the intended usage of systems for electronic exchange (such as e-mail, IRC, Usenet News, World Wide Web, etc.); for example, you shall not send forged electronic mail, mail that will intimidate or harass other users, chain messages that can interfere with the efficiency of the system, mass mailings not related to the topic(s) of the addressed group(s), or promotional mail for profit-making purposes.” That being the policy, students not involved with MSA should not be receiving campaign emails.
Moreover, this action also comes dangerously close to infringing the MSA policy on campaigning:

“The Assembly and/or its subsidiary bodies will not endorse, subsidize, or campaign in any manner for any candidate, slate, or party nor will they give the appearance of endorsing, subsidizing, or campaigning in any manner for any candidate, slate, or party. As such, MSA facilities and meetings of MSA and/or its subsidiary bodies cannot be used to aid in campaigning.”

This trip was paid for by the MSA, and under this rule critics charge that members of the group should not be allowed to campaign during MSA sponsored activities, let alone while they were evidently skipping an event.

“I had a little extra time so I decided to send out the email,” said Cash. “I realize it wasn’t completely appropriate but it’s been done before.”
Other members of the MSA felt that Cash’s action, though not necessarily prohibited, wasn’t suitable for the ABTS conference.

“I don’t think campaigning while attending the conference violates the code,” said Goodspeed, “but I think campaigning during the ABTS conference is in bad taste.”
Greg Hayes went further to say, “The mass email sent by members of the Blue Party was inappropriate, and violates MSA policy as far as I understand it.”
Although debate can be had about the MSA policy, Cash’s actions were clearly in violation of ITD policy.

“I got an email from ITD (about the spam),” said Cash. “I honestly think it’s something I probably shouldn’t have done. But there are people that are trying to make a big deal out of it because it’s political.”

In addition to the email controversy, there have also been allegations of the delegates consuming alcoholic beverages during the trip. Some delegates allegedly attended the formal dinner, an official ABTS event, inebriated.

Rachel Fisher, a former U-Dem Party MSA candidate and Peace and Justice co-Chair, made the first allegations of drinking. Her feelings were echoed by other delegates.
“A number of ABTS delegates, including Matt Nolan and Jessica Cash, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at our formal dinner Friday night, although I don’t know what, if anything, they had to drink before,” said Goodspeed.

Both Nolan and Cash denied these allegations, but admitted to drinking on the trip.
“During the night, when students got together, we partied,” said Nolan. “Never at any point were we intoxicated, as it would be highly unprofessional.”

“At the conference there are lots of social things,” said Cash. “But we’re college students. When the time was appropriate, yes, there was some drinking.”
“I sat with both Matt and Jessica at the formal dinner,” explained Justin Zartman, President of Penn State. “From my knowledge and observation, neither of them were drunk.”

On top of the alleged drinking and spamming, two rental vans were involved in two separate accidents over the weekend trip.

“The front bumper on one van was really smashed-in on the silver van,” explained a Thrifty Car Rental employee. “The other had a lot of damage on the passenger door. You couldn’t miss it. We would never rent a car with this much damage.” The Dodge dealership gave a quote of over $3,000 to fix the two vans. Nolan and the other delegates made no mention of the accidents until confronted with the allegations. Nolan explained that MSA Representative Zack Slates got in an accident on the way back to Michigan.

“When he was on the way back, he ran into something and thought it was a minor thing and brought it back. When he turned in the van, the van people told him it was cool and he left.”

As for the second van, Nolan denied any accident.

“On the other van we didn’t know of any damages. We think it was done in the [Thrifty] parking lot after we turned it in.”

Thrifty explained that the vans were not inspected until after they were checked in, but that the damaged definitely occurred on the road and not in their parking lot. The Thrifty employee added that although they vans were checked in, that it does not absolve the renters of any liability.

Zack Slates, who refused to offer any details of the actual nature of the accidents, said they knew both vans were damaged when they were turned in.
Nolan said he was talking with Thrifty regarding liability and insurance.
“We’re trying to figure out what is covered by insurance. We hope the University’s insurance will cover everything.”

There are some questions as to whether the students sent to these conferences should even be participating in partying and alcohol consumption. Because the MSA is funded yearly by the $5.69 fee added to students’ bills, the students of the U-M technically footed the $2,000 for this conference.

“I believe that going on the ABTS conference is a privilege, and we should treat it with respect,” said Goodspeed. “It took many students’ fees to send us there, and I would hope that the delegates treat it seriously.” MR