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Candidates for MSU Trustee Positions Focus on
State Funding and Hope that Voters Find Them at the End of the
Ballot
Gongwer News Service, October 11, 2002
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Michigan State University has only once in the last eight
years increased its tuition more than the rate of inflation,
and all four of the major party candidates for the two open
slots on the Board of Trustees want to keep that pattern
going. But they also understand the need to keep improving the
quality of university programs and staff.
And whatever they recommend for changes to finance or areas of
university programming, they all accept that there is nothing
in this race to pull them up from the bottom of the ballot.
As with all of the races for the other university boards, the
main concern of the four major-party candidates for the board
is what will happen to state funding to MSU in the coming year
and what will it mean for tuition needs.
"I do not intend to raise tuition above inflation again," said
Democrat Colleen McNamara of Okemos, one of the two incumbents
seeking re-election. "One time in my eight years, that's
enough, I'm not doing it again."
Republican Don Nugent, a farmer and food processor from
Frankfort, said the board needs to work on the Legislature to
reduce the per-student funding gap between MSU, the University
of Michigan and Wayne State University.
"It's mainly going to be about keeping education affordable,"
said Democrat Cal Rapson of Fenton, an AFL-CIO official, of
the race. "On the other had we've got to keep faculty so we've
got to pay them."
The candidates also tended to agree that increasing enrollment
is not an acceptable source of increased revenue.
"We've got to make sure we've got space for that" of any
enrollment increase, said Sen. Joanne Emmons (R-Big Rapids), a
term-limited legislator filling out the Republican ticket. "It
would be better to stay within the limits of your capacity."
"I'd like to see the university not gain any in enrollment,"
Mr. Rapson said. "If we try to get bigger that's just going to
cause us more problems."
But Mr. Nugent said the administration is also becoming
limited in the areas where it can cut without reducing
services. "Obviously we've got to continue our very strong
efforts in cost reduction and efficiency," he said. "But the
low-hanging fruit has already been picked."
Ms. McNamara said the administration is looking now at
programs that might be cut or cut back because of lack of
attendance or because better programs are offered at other
institutions. But she noted that even there, any cuts would
have to be gradual. "People come to the university expecting
they are going to get a four-year degree," she said. "We can't
just turn on a dime and say, 'Sorry, we cut your program.'"
Ms. McNamara and Mr. Nugent said the capital campaign recently
unveiled should also help to bring in some needed cash for
programs.
While there are other issues beyond tuition hikes, many of
them also are tied to state funding, or at least to funding.
Mr. Nugent and Ms. Emmons said the MSU Extension Service is a
key component to the university that is not being funded
sufficiently.
"We've got to focus on how we get adequate funding to
Cooperative Extension," Mr. Nugent said. "I think those are
very vital to our land grant mission."
"In the U.P., you realize the need for the Extension Service,"
Ms. Emmons said from her car on a return trip from that
region. "They depend on it for information."
Ms. Emmons said it was up to the board to lobby the
Legislature for sufficient funding for that program, which is
covered in a separate line item in the higher education budget
and does not receive tuition funding. "We must not lose the
land grant mission," she said.
She said the concerns being raised around the state about
bovine tuberculosis, chronic wasting disease and now West Nile
virus also make it imperative that the Legislature come up
with the funds to open the new animal diagnostic laboratory
built this year at MSU.
"There are a lot of things that MSU has its fingers in," Ms.
Emmons said.
Ms. McNamara said many voters are asking about the proposed
new boxes at Spartan Stadium, but she said most are supportive
of the project as long as it ends up making money, rather than
costing, in the long run.
Mr. Nugent said the board needs to continue pushing to be the
host of the Rare Isotope Accelerator Project, a federal
project that he said would bring additional jobs and funding
to the university and the state. Michigan is in competition
with Illinois for the project.
Mr. Rapson said the greatest change needed at the university
is communication. "There needs to be a little more
communication with the board, with the faculty and with the
students," he said. "The board needs to be visible and get out
and meet with the student leadership."
Ms. Emmons said there also needs to be improvement in
communication in the classroom. She said the campaign trail
has brought her numerous stories of students who have not been
able to understand their instructors because of the
instructor's poor English skills. "It would seem to me that
the trustees ought to have a hand in providing instructors
that can speak English," she said.
But the four also accept that, no matter what they do to get
their names and their platforms out, the election will likely
ultimately be ruled by the traditional forces of
top-of-the-ticket results and potentially by votes for women
candidates.
"A lot of people don't understand what these boards do," Mr.
Rapson said, making it difficult to secure votes for the
office.
Ms. Emmons said she has had voters return her pamphlets and
tell her they do not vote in East Lansing. "People are not
aware that they vote for the MSU board," she said. "I'm not
going to spend $1 million to let people know that they vote
for the MSU board."
She hoped that she would have some advantage having served in
the Legislature on behalf of 10 different counties in the
state and that voters in those counties would recognize her
name-if they make it to the bottom of the ballot. "For
somebody who's used to knocking on doors and being
face-to-face with voters, it's very frustrating," she said.
Mr. Nugent said he hoped the agriculture and business
communities would come out and support him to give him the top
vote spot again as he did in 1994.
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