Past leaders of the Missouri Students Association [have criticized](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/3/21/msa-creates-petition-system-reconnect-students/) the organization for declining to speak on issues that affect students, such as the status of Planned Parenthood and guns on campus. Last fall, though, MSA couldn’t avoid taking sides.
MSA statements came into play last November when national attention on MU prompted the association to make statements about the incidents of racism and protests on campus. Current MSA President Sean Earl said the association had several media outlets and student groups reach out to them asking for their response. The organization released a statement on Nov. 9 last year urging Tim Wolfe to resign.
“We cannot allow the systematic oppression of MU students to continue, we must create institutional changes immediately,” the statement read. “The resignation of Tim Wolfe is only the first of many actions that need to take place.”
Former MSA President Payton Head and former Vice President Brenda Smith-Lezama drafted all executive statements last fall. The executive cabinet decides to issue these statements after discussion with the group most affected by the incident, current MSA President Sean Earl said.
However, the opinions of the Executive Cabinet and Senate did not always match up last fall. When Jonathan Butler announced his hunger strike Nov. 4 last year, the cabinet hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the potential process of removing Tim Wolfe, but some senators were opposed to the organization supporting Butler’s hunger strike at all.
“The conflict we got into last fall was [that cabinet] wanted to make a statement, but not everybody in senate wanted to fully make a statement,” Earl said.
Former Senate Speaker Kevin Carr said [at the time](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/11/4/students-respond-hunger-strike/) that MSA should not support the hunger strike. Carr said that he was speaking for himself, not the organization, and he was supportive of the greater cause of racial equality at MU.
“Jonathan Butler’s expression, and his way of going about it, is putting himself in danger, and it’s even encouraging other students to put themselves in danger, too,” Carr said. “I think it’s irresponsible of student leaders to endorse that sort of behavior.”
MSA communicates with students about campus issues in two ways: through Senate in the form of resolutions and through Executive Cabinet in the form of a statement. Communications made in each way go through different processes and represent the opinions of different people in the organization.
The Department of Student Communications of the Executive Cabinet writes statements and posts them online to the association’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. Earl and Vice President Tori Schafer draft the statements, while DSC reviews and edits the draft.
Senate is more restricted in its ability to release statements. The body communicates its opinion through resolutions, which are pieces of legislation that must pass through with a majority vote. After the passage of a resolution, all senators must publicly support its opinion regardless of their own personal stance.
Many incidents last fall prompted statements from the executive board following national media coverage, Earl said. Organizations and individuals reach out to MSA when they feel a statement is necessary for campus.
“Usually when something happens, we’re going to make a statement,” Earl said. “I think a lot of times if MSA isn’t directly affected by it, it’s kind of bad for us to put out this big grandiose statement if we weren’t even affected by it.”
After [a new policy was created last March](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/3/21/msa-creates-petition-system-reconnect-students/), students are now able to draft their own resolutions and submit them to the speaker. Senate is obligated to debate the issue if the student author gets 50 other students to sign onto it. The change was made in response to what student leaders described as a tendency of MSA to stay silent on issues important to students.
“In the past, MSA has been pretty silent in terms of staying neutral in a situation, but then we had the really hard conversation of if we’re staying silent who are we really hurting,” Earl said.
_Edited by Emily Gallion | egallion@themaneater.com_
