New MSA adviser gets down to work

By Brad Fischer

Published Aug. 29, 2006

With the fall semester underway, newly appointed Student Government Services Coordinator Farouk Aregbe is just settling in to his new office and job.

Aregbe, who oversees the Missouri Students Association, began work on July 10.

A national search committee composed of MSA officers and Student Life officials chose him for the new position. This is the first time MSA has had a full-time adviser.

MSA, MU's undergraduate student government, sponsors activities and programs to promote student interests. It also serves as a liaison between MU administrators and students.

"We began talking about getting an adviser about a year ago and decided to make the position at the beginning of this year," MSA President John Andersen said. "We felt we needed someone for institutional memory, someone with a lot of knowledge."

MSA Vice President Brooke Moody said the quick turnover of elected officials has caused problems in the past.

"The continuity of some of our projects has been lost," she said. "We needed someone with past knowledge to keep things going from year-to-year."

Aregbe, 25, comes to MU after graduating from the University of North Dakota in December 2005 with a master's degree in business administration. Aregbe completed his undergraduate work at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.

He brings extensive student government experience with him. While at Missouri Western, Aregbe was student body president for two years and worked as a senator on campus.

"So far I have just been doing a lot of learning, reading through the MSA constitution, bylaws and meeting with different stakeholders," Aregbe said. "My goal is to get a very detailed understanding of how the organization got where it is today. I have to know a lot about specific groups and also get a sense of how all the different parts fit together."

Aregbe will advise all divisions of MSA, including the auxiliaries of the organization, such as STRIPES, KCOU/88.1 FM, MUTV, the Board of Elections Commission and the Senate.

"With the importance of student government, it is befitting that they have someone just dedicated to them," Aregbe said.

With the addition of the new position, Moody was moved from her office and will now share an office with Andersen.

"It's fine," Moody said. "We wanted to give Farouk his own space."