ASMSU Donates $1,500 to ELi for NewsMatch

Above: ELi Publisher Alice Dreger talks with ASMSU; photo by Somer Sodeman.

The General Assembly of the Associated Students of MSU (ASMSU), the undergraduate student government of MSU, voted unanimously last night to donate $1,500 to East Lansing Info.

Matching funds from NewsMatch plus a special local challenge grant mean that ASMSU’s $1,500 donation will turn into $4,500 for East Lansing Info’s year-end sustainability campaign.

The bill was introduced by Eli Pales, Vice President for Governmental Affairs. It originally called for allocating $1,000 from the ASMSU’s general fund for East Lansing Info (ELi), recognizing that NewsMatch would match ASMSU’s donation, dollar-for-dollar, up to $1,000.

Pales’ draft bill cited the following reasons for introducing the measure:

• “Local news organizations are vital to the strength of local democracies, but many are struggling to keep afloat.”
• “East Lansing Info has been a great aid to the governmental affairs office as a consistent and dependable news organization.”
• “East Lansing Info supports the careers of student journalists by providing introductory and community-driven freelance positions.”

You can read the whole bill here.

“There’s virtually no one else who provides news on what’s going on in East Lansing with such detail,” Pales (below) said before the vote. “It’s a pretty important resource for us. We research everyday issues, and it gives us good reference points as we go and explore avenues for advocacy.”

Before the vote, ELi Publisher Alice Dreger explained to the General Assembly during public comment that an anonymous MSU faculty member had pledged to match whatever ASMSU voted to donate last night, and that ELi’s core donor commitment would also match anything over the NewsMatch per-donation match cap.

This meant that whatever was donated by ASMSU would be tripled.

In response to the challenge grant, ASMSU’s General Assembly unanimously voted through an amendment to the original bill, increasing the donation amount from $1,000 to $1,500.

In speaking to the General Assembly about why he proposed the bill, Pales said that no other organization does “the hard work, the grunt work, to get us access to information about the City.”

He said that the Governmental Affairs team of ASMSU reads ELi “almost every day because it gives us valuable resources as we go out into the community.” He said, "our job [would be] much tougher if ELi was not here."

Benjamin Horne formally seconded the bill, saying he was strongly in favor of it. He said there is a “perceived divide” between MSU and East Lansing and that as ASMSU reaches into the community more, having ELi to bridge that gap with news will be more important than ever.

Maysa Sitar, who will be taking over Pales' position shortly, strongly supported the donation and recommended that all members of the General Assembly read ELi regularly. She called ELi's news reporting of City government "really important."

“This is such an honor and victory for ELi,” said ELi Managing Editor Ann Nichols, about the vote. “We’ve been working hard to be here for our students – to provide them information, reporting opportunities, and a place to ask questions and get answers about local government, local elections, and local events.”

“To have MSU students recognize that ELi is an integral part of their community, just as we recognize they are an integral part of the East Lansing community, is simply wonderful. We are so grateful to ASMSU.”

Learn more about ELi from this video:

Make a tax-deductible donation to ELi today and NewsMatch will double yours! Click here to help right now. Questions about how NewsMatch is helping ELi? Click here to read more. 

Alice Dreger contributed reporting to this article.