ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.

The assembly voted Thursday to allocate up to $10,000 from special events to fund Welcome Week activities. Special events
is appropriated money completely from rollover funding,
assembly Chairperson Michael Webber said.

The show likely would be Sept. 1 at Munn Field or Demonstration Field and would be free to students and community members, Director of Event Planning Morgan Green said.

“It’s a good way to kick off the year and a good way to build relationships with the community and the university as well,” assembly Vice Chairperson for External Affairs Kyle Dysarz said.

ASMSU’s revenue comes from a $16.75 refundable tax charged to all undergraduate students each semester. Its projected revenue from the 2008-09 academic year is more than $1.4 million.

“(ASMSU is) going to have a good amount of working room to sponsor activities for students and continue to provide services to students,” Webber said. “The legal services, student defenders and blue books are things that we hope to continue to provide in the future because those are really important for students.”

Student defenders received almost $15,000, which is about $6,000 more than the 2008-09 school year, in an effort to make people more aware of their function, Webber said.

“I think the idea was to increase the money so we could advertise more so they would get more people to represent because I think that’s something we struggle with — making sure that students know the services we provide,” he said.

“We did get a large number of cases this year and we’re hoping to increase that more.”

Student defenders are comprised of eight to 10 undergraduate students who advise students with university disputes such as academic dishonesty or appealing judicial decisions. They are trained to guide students through the university hearing process.

The student defender’s director also received more funding because the director will work year-round, rather than only in the fall and spring because of some demand from students, Webber said.

More than $370,000 is appropriated to legal services, which can represent students free of charge in legal matters such as a minor in possession, noise violations and landlord/tenant issues. The legal services staff is comprised of two attorneys from the law firm of Jeffries & Newton.

The funding board will receive more than $115,000, which is about $15,000 less than last year. Most of funding board’s money is allocated to registered student organizations.

ASMSU will determine by May 31 how much leftover funds it has from the 2008-09 school year.

“We don’t want to spend money just to spend it,” Webber said. “We want to spend it efficiently and we give it back to students through programming board and funding board.”