Several members of the MSU Board of Trustees are under fire for spending university money after a Detroit TV station report revealed lavish travel and event expenses.
ABC affiliate WXYZ reported that in the last year, trustees spent more than $68,000 for attending athletic events and more than $24,000 in attending events at the Wharton Center.
Trustee Faylene Owen took a trip with her husband to Germany last year to see the MSU men’s basketball team play Connecticut. That trip alone cost the university $26,319, according to the report. Costs of the trip included limousines, cash stipends and $1,275-a-night hotel accommodations.
Contextually, an estimated year’s tuition for an in-state MSU student costs $21,764. A three-credit course at MSU this fall costs an in-state student $1,286.25.
That three-credit course cost only is a few dollars more than one night of hotel expenses during the Owens’ 10-day trip.
Funds for trustee expenses don’t come from tuition, but from other university investment accounts.
When contacted by The State News on Sunday, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Joel Ferguson said the WXYZ article seemed like a “cheap shot,” adding that he had no further comment.
Trustee George Perles said he was unfamiliar with the WXYZ report.
Board vice chairperson Brian Breslin and trustees Mitch Lyons, Diann Woodard and Dianne Byrum also could not be reached for comment.
Trustee Owen said that she believed her trip to Germany was a good investment for the university and provided opportunities for engagement.
She said that its benefit for students would ultimately “be worth many multiples of the cost of the trip.”
She also said high tuition rates can’t be blamed on trustee spending, but the state’s continued disinvestment in higher education.
“WXYZ said that the motive for its report was tuition rates at MSU and other universities that everyone believes are too high,” Owen said. “High tuition rates are the result of inadequate state appropriations, not an overseas trip to build global relationships, which accounts for about 50 cents per student.”
Still, some MSU students believe the money could be better spent elsewhere.
English senior Cate Hannum said she wasn’t surprised to hear about the trustees’ spending habits.
“I’m originally from the Boston area, and compared to services my friends receive at Boston College or Northeastern, we pay for so much more,” Hannum said. “It’s kind of disappointing. Maybe this money could be spent so we don’t have to pay for gym memberships or campus transportation. Other universities offer those services for free.”
Biochemistry and molecular biology junior Alexander Ethridgech called the spending “ludicrous.”
“It’s frustrating from the perspective of someone who conducts research,” Ethridge said. “I mean, that’s what MSU is about. It’s something we’re renowned for, but research budgets are being cut all over, so to hear about frivolous spending by officials is frustrating.”
Such budget cuts almost cost Ethridge his summer research position after he’d already signed a lease, he said.
As a result, he was forced to compete for a Lyman Briggs grant for his funding instead, he said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
“Undergraduate researchers already struggle to get support,” Ethridge said. “Which makes this kind of university spending ridiculous.”
Council of Graduate Students President Stefan Fletcher declined to comment and ASMSU president Evan Martinak was unavailable for comment.
Both work together with the board.
