The Minnesota Student Association’s Matt Curry resigned from his position as representative to the University Board of Regents this week because of his involvement in a lawsuit against the board.
Curry is one of five students who filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the Student Services Fee violates the U.S. Constitution. A senior in the Carlson School of Management, Curry said it would be a conflict of interest to represent students while at the same time suing the regents.
“I didn’t want to drag MSA through an impeachment battle,” said Curry. “There are more important things for them to concentrate on.”
Curry resigned at Tuesday’s forum, which also saw the passing of five resolutions, including one to organize a student petition to make a computer lab accessible for 24 hours.
MSA members will be soliciting signatures next week in support of keeping a Lind Hall lab open 24 hours a day throughout the quarter.
The lab is open for 24 hours during the last five weeks of every quarter. It would cost University administration about $6,000 to keep the lab open every day the whole quarter, said MSA President Jigar Madia.
Madia, a College of Liberal Arts junior, said Lind Hall could become a full-time 24-hour lab starting spring quarter if there are enough signatures.
“This is entirely contingent on student support,” Madia said.
MSA is also seeking support for next week’s campus blood drive, sponsored by U Corps, an MSA-supported organization that networks campus groups.
An MSA resolution passed Tuesday established an official position on blood drive discrimination for the first time since 1996. A previous resolution urged Boynton Health Service to stop sponsoring the blood drives because of what MSA members have called discriminatory questionnaires for potential donors.
Vice president Bridgette Murphy, a senior in the College of Human Ecology, said MSA is submitting a letter to the Food and Drug Administration stating MSA’s opposition to the questions on the blood drive’s questionnaire directed toward homosexual males.