ASMSU's leader scholarship has promise, dangers

Student leaders in need soon might receive a helping hand in paying for school if a new scholarship proposed by ASMSU gets off the ground.

ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.

The plan for the scholarship was proposed last week and still is vague. Although it’s a good sign to see ASMSU attempt to create more need-based scholarships for students, we worry about a possible conflict of interest.

It’s slightly suspicious that ASMSU — arguably MSU’s largest organization for “student leaders” — is attempting to create and fund a scholarship specifically designed for those who have demonstrated student leadership. We don’t argue that there is a need for scholarships rewarding this leadership, but in the interest of protecting its reputation and squelching suspicion, ASMSU should disqualify its members from receiving such an award.

It’s also more than a little questionable that ASMSU is looking to secure funding for the scholarship from past ASMSU officials and representatives. As is the case for many need-based scholarships, it’s only natural that ASMSU alumni will want to provide for present officials’ schooling, but this potentially could make the scholarship completely self-serving to ASMSU alone.

Lastly, we are curious about the requirements to achieve the scholarship, and how it will be awarded. It’s our opinion that the scholarship should be awarded to those who have already demonstrated their ability to lead on campus.

Simply “wishing” to do so should not be enough. And although ASMSU is a great organization for students looking to lead, it’s by no means the only place for aspiring leaders to go. There are countless other students who have demonstrated leadership in capacities other than ASMSU. This scholarship could be a great opportunity to reward student leaders in some lesser-known, but no less important, organizations of campus. If ASMSU only were to reward its own members, the student body they are expected to represent quickly would turn on them.

Although we don’t believe ASMSU is trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, we do feel the need to make these concerns known. By and large, we trust that ASMSU has the best interest of all students in mind with this scholarship, and that they are politically adept enough to avoid any sort of controversy. But they should be up-front about the logistics of this scholarship as soon as possible.

We are especially impressed with ASMSU for seeing a need and trying to fill it. This is exactly what ASMSU should be doing — watching out for students’ best interests and taking measures to improve student life. Projects such as this new scholarship and ASMSU officials’ recent testimony in favor of a medical amnesty bill are doing wonders to help improve the reputation of ASMSU and show students how their undergraduate student government is serving them.

ASMSU sometimes gets a bad rap — perhaps unnecessarily so — for not doing much to benefit students. The best way for ASMSU to rationalize its own existence is to produce real results, which they are beginning to do. The ASMSU representatives seem to have the best interest of students in mind here — if this scholarship gets off the ground, we gladly would have our $16.75 ASMSU tax help support more student leaders like them.