August 1, 2024 - Patti McDonald
Connor Le, a senior majoring in history and political science (with a minor in law, justice, and public policy), was recently named the President of the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU). We sat down with Connor to talk about his goals for the upcoming semester, his love for helping people, and what led him to run for student body president.
Can you tell us about your background and what led you to become involved with ASMSU?
I came to MSU in 2020. I have been involved in ASMSU basically for my entire college career. I started off as an intern within the organization, working on projects that were devoted to increasing recruitment for marginalized and underrepresented students on campus. From that, I became a representative in our legislative body where I represented MSU’s Asian Pacific American Student Organization (APASO) where I helped represent all APIDA/A (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American/Asian) identifying students on campus. I also passed several pieces of legislation throughout the 59thsession. I passed bills to help MSU and East Lansing become a sanctuary campus and city for undocumented immigrants. I helped change guidelines when it came to donor accountability and naming policies on campus. I helped pass a bill donating parts of ASMSU’s budget to Olin [Health Center] for vaccinations for students who are uninsured so that they can get vaccinations for COVID and the flu. I also helped with increasing security measures on campus after February 13. After all of that advocacy, I ran for Vice President of Internal Administration of ASMSU.
A lot of my journey through ASMSU has been dedicated to advocating for students and making sure that students are living their best lives at MSU and that we’re solving any sort of problems that do fall into their laps. I want to help the community as much as I can.
Why is it so important for you to help represent underrepresented students?
MSU is a predominately white institution (PWI). So, it’s important that we have the seats, so underrepresented students and communities have their voice, and they have the option to have their voice out in the student government and into the MSU community. If we do not help represent constituents from different backgrounds and cultures, then we truly are not representing the student body to our fullest extent.
What are some of your goals that you want to accomplish as ASMSU student body president?
I have two main goals as president that I want to accomplish, hopefully by the end of my term. The first goal is establishing a justice branch within ASMSU. Currently, we don’t really have a good set in stone way of holding people accountable for their actions within the organization itself.
I want to work on our transparency as well as marketing with the student body. I feel like although we are a large organization and we have lots of free services that students can participate in, a lot of students do not know about the services we provide. I want to work with our marketing team to make sure that we can get as many students as possible to know about our services and what we provide. Also, I would like to work on transparency and communication with our student body, which would include what we are doing when it comes to advocacy and being able to have students more involved with any sort of advocacy. That would include meeting with our ASMSU Admin. I feel like a lot of students who are outside the student government sphere do not really know who the ASMSU Admin is and what they do or what current projects that person is working on. So, connecting our admin with the actual student body to communicate to the students what this person is doing is something that I really want to work on as well.
What are some challenges you foresee as being the student body president?
For my upcoming term, we are in a very important and decisive election year. I’m sure that a lot of people have mixed feelings about this upcoming election year, too. So, the biggest challenge I would say is focusing on the general election and trying to get students engaged in voting. I want to make sure all students feel like they have a voice in who is representing them in the future.
Why did you decide to major in history?
I chose history because I was always drawn to the subject, both inside and outside of school. I enjoy learning about how different events, people, and movements can impact the history of the world, especially in relation to politics.
Would you like to give a shoutout to any mentors?
I would like to give a shout out to ASMSU Advisor Andrew Peckham. He’s been a really big help. Even when I wasn’t president, he’s been a big supporter with assisting with any sort of situations that might arise or giving advice when needed and he’s always been an open ear. I really appreciate him.
[Adjunct Professor of History and James Madison College] Professor Anna Pegler-Gordon has also been a big help, especially when I was an ASMSU Representative. She helped a lot with the advocacy work that I was doing, especially in relation to donor accountability.
What would you like students to know about ASMSU?
We have a lot of free services available to students. One of them is a loan program for students. For any student who is facing any sort of financial stress, we have a $300 interest free loan for them to apply for. If they get the paperwork in prior to the semester starting, they can get an interest free loan for $300 that I believe they must pay back by the end of the semester.
Then, we have ourSafe Rideprogram which is basically a free Uber service. I believe it operates from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. every day of the week. If students are feeling unsafe walking back to their dorms or off-campus apartments, or if they just had a night out and they need a ride, they can call in a Safe Ride that will come to pick them up wherever they are in the East Lansing area and then take them wherever they need to go. So, any sort of on campus dorm or any sort of off campus apartment (I think the farthest Safe Ride goes is north of Abbott Road).
We also haverentalsfor specific school supplies. So, if anyone needs a graphing calculator for their classes or other school supplies, we have free rentals that a student can sign paperwork for and get rented out for the entire semester. We also offerfree legal servicesfor students. We have two attorneys on hand that can help students if they get into any sort of legal trouble. OurStudent Right’s Advocateshelp with any sort of university hearing board procedures. Usually with hearing board procedures, lawyers are not allowed to attend. However, there is an exception for student advocates. So, the student advocates help with any sort of hearing or hearing board procedures.
We also have afree readership program. This includes free subscriptions to theNew York Times, includingNew York TimesCooking and Games. Other newspapers such as theLansing State JournalandThe Washington Postare included too. If a student needs to access any sort of article for a class, they can just sign in using their MSU account and access is free for them.
Another service that popped into my head is our yearbook. We have a yearbook department that makes theRed Cedar Logand it’s free for our students. Students who want to be in the yearbook at the end of the year can also get a free senior portrait.
A full list of ASMSU’s resources can be accessed on itswebsite.
