The Student Legal Services office is pictured on March 20, 2019 at the Student Services Building.

A bill introduced in ASMSU’s finance committee March 14 would have allocated $32,500 of the remaining $41,918 left in its budget to update the Student Legal Services office, located on campus. But with five in favor and seven against, the bill failed due to concerns about the limited amount of money that would be left in ASMSU’s budget following the allocation.

The office that houses Student Legal Services — a program sponsored by the Associated Students of Michigan State University, or ASMSU, and the Council of Graduate Students — hasn’t undergone a full renovation since the program was established 35 years ago.

Through a private law firm — Jeffries and Associates, PLLC — that consists of attorneys, legal interns and other staff, the student government sponsored program offers free legal services to MSU students. Attorney Brian Jeffries has worked with MSU since 1984 and made an appearance at the meeting, stressing the importance of renovating their office.

“This isn’t just a beautification, there’s really functionality that is involved and safety for my employees,” Jeffries said to the committee. He mentioned falling bookshelves and an overcrowded front desk area as two of the main issues that are in need of attention.

College of Business representative Oscar Garner, who introduced the bill, drew attention to the relevance of this service that assists up to 2,500 students annually in both civil and criminal legal issues.

“These guys have helped us establish a connection with our students, with the university as a whole and bolster what we are as an organization,” Garner said. “This money is an investment in them, an investment in our students and an investment in us. This is an opportunity to support probably the best service that we provide.”

However, other members of finance committee voiced concern with the fact that allocating $32,500 to Student Legal Services would leave less than $10,000 in ASMSU’s budget.

If such a limited amount of money is left, ASMSU President Cookie Rifiotis highlighted that other bills allocating money in the upcoming weeks to the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students, the Council of Progressive Students, a new student election system, a pilot laptop rental service and a pilot spring organization fair would no longer be within the budget.

Others suggested splitting the allocation up between this year’s session of ASMSU and the next one, or putting the bill on hold until the next session. Representatives pointed out that

and Associates is guaranteed to continue providing services for the next six years since their contract was just renewed with no buyout option.

“I think a more feasible way going forward is to do this in chunks instead of a large $30,000 allocation to renovate one room,” Vice President for Finance and Operations Dan Iancio said.

In response, Vice President for Academic Affairs Dylan Westrin, who seconded the bill, drew attention to past debates ASMSU has had about renovating the office — specifically efforts that were discussed last year but not carried out.

“It’s just putting it off again,” Westrin said. “At this point, it’s been a year coming and there’s no guarantee at that point that the next (General Assembly) is going to be able to do that.”

Jeffries also voiced opposition to delaying the bill, saying current renovation plans have “been an ongoing process for almost a year and a half.”

“They have submitted design budgets and I don’t think we can keep continuing dragging them along,” Jeffries said. “It’s either going to happen or it’s not.”

In a final argument for his cause, Jeffries addressed ASMSU’s finance committee directly.

“In government, there is always more need than there is money,” Jeffries said. “It’s an issue of how are you going to place your priorities and where are you going to put the money at.

“As for student legal services, you don’t really understand the value of those services until you walk in there as a client and you’re feeling that day that your life is at the end. And that’s what we do — we repair that.”

The bill did not pass and money will not be allocated toward renovating the Student Legal Services office. Jeffries and Associates will continue to provide free legal services to MSU students.