Campus plays host to SAM conference

Fourteen universities from around the state gathered at Oakland University over the weekend for the monthly Students Association of Michigan conference.

It was the first time in about two years that the conference took place on campus.

“SAM is basically a compilation of all the public universities in Michigan,” Student Body Vice President Amy Ring said. “We all come together once a month to talk about issues facing all students in Michigan. It’s kind of like a political force, and the main thing that we focus on is higher education funding, because that is the biggest issue right now, with budget cuts in the state and our tuition rates going up every year.”

SAM’s goal is to take a unified stance on these issues and often passes resolutions regarding them. On Saturday they discussed a bill that recently passed in Michigan requiring retailers that sell kegs of beer to attach an identification tag to the keg, notifying police of who purchased the keg if the party is broken up.

“That sort of thing affects college students,” Ring said.

This was the highest-attended SAM conference thus far and provided OU with a chance to show other universities what we have to offer.

“The school that’s hosting really tried to show off their school,” Ring said. “We’re really trying to impress the schools with our facilities and the food that we provide and activities for them. It turned out to be a really good weekend because they got to go to the basketball game and do the roller skating.”

Former Student Body President Kristin Dayag is the Vice President of SAM and feels that the event was an overall success.

“It was one of our most productive. It really helps to have all the university interact together,” Dayag said. “We have a lot accomplished as far as what our goals are for the future.”