On Saturday, Nov. 11, Oakland University’s Student Congress held a Student Government Conference, where student government representatives from schools all across the state of Michigan came to gather and discuss issues affecting students.

In all, 10 schools attended the conference: Oakland University, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Northern Michigan University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Michigan-Flint, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Lake Superior State University, Grand Valley State University and Wayne State University.

“I decided that I wanted to organize this conference so that we can promote cooperation between the many student governments from around the state, share ideas and work together on issues important to students in Michigan,” Legislative Affairs Director for OUSC, Ryan Fox said.

Students from all of the schools met in lecture halls in the Human Health Building to hear presentations from Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University, Northern Michigan University and Oakland University. Student government officials presented on what they hope to accomplish and their various successful projects in the past and how they carried them out.

Oakland University Student Congress discussed how different student governments from  Michigan can work together to lobby the state to increase overall funding to public universities, which would lower tuition costs. Especially in Michigan, state funding is a growing concern. OUSC hoped that schools could agree on an activism plan that involves petitions to state legislators.

If the action of increasing funding to public universities happens, OUSC hopes that public universities can avoid raising tuition to cover increasing costs.

“The fact that Oakland students are fighting and lobbying for lower college costs is super cool,” attendee Joe Emmendorfer said. “As a college student who deals with paying a part of high tuition, it would be awesome if student government could be successful in lowering costs for me as well as all of the other students around the state of Michigan.”

Along with presentations, the conference hosted a number of workshops so that members of other student governments could share their thoughts on problems involving diversity, health on campus and increasing college costs.

Students interested in joining OUSC can easily get involved. The students meet every Monday at 4 p.m. in the Oakland Room inside the Oakland Center. Being open to all students, anyone may sit in on a meeting.