MSU’s undergraduate student government is fighting a state Senate resolution that members say limits student input in the selection of trustees.
ASMSU’s Student Assembly will be considering a bill tonight officially challenging Senate Joint Resolution A, which proposes an amendment to Article VIII, section 5 of the state constitution.
The proposed resolution would grant Michigan’s governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, power to appoint several new members to governing bodies at MSU, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University - the three institutions where board members are elected in a statewide vote.
“We feel that it removes a lot of the voice students have in who runs this university,” said Shane Waller, the Student Assembly’s vice chairperson for external affairs, who introduced the ASMSU bill.
Gov. John Engler unveiled the proposal at his State of the State address last month. It would require a constitutional amendment, and it would allow the governor to appoint seven additional members - of both parties - to each of the already eight-member boards.
A spokeswoman for Engler said the governor is not speaking poorly of the job current boards have done - but rather wants to add diversity.
“The elected boards have done a good job,” Susan Schafer said. “The governor just thinks this allows more diverse individuals to sit on the boards.”
And state Sen. John Schwarz, a Battle Creek Republican, said the resolution would not affect students because they have no say in who is nominated for the board positions.
The statewide election occurs after candidates are nominated during their political party’s convention.
Schwarz said the resolution’s main purpose is to improve the selection process of board candidates.
“The existing system of nominating candidates for boards has outlived its usefulness,” said Schwarz, who introduced Joint Resolution A last month after submitting a similar proposal in 1999.
“People don’t want to go through the convention process to be nominated.”
But MSU Trustee Dororthy Gonzales said appointments made by a governor would widen the gap between the boards and the general public.
“I always thought it was better for our taxpayers to decide who is appointed,” said Gonzales, a Democrat. “I wouldn’t see (the appointments) as an inclusive process.”
The resolution states no more than five board members can have the same political affiliation as the governor. And serving an eight-year, unpaid term, no person can be appointed as a board member more than two times, according to the resolution.
MSU Trustee Scott Romney said although he thinks there are some merits in appointing board members, he isn’t sure if it’s necessary.
Romney was appointed to the board by fellow Republican Engler last August after board chairman Bob Traxler, a Democrat, resigned to head up the Mackinac Island Park Commission.
“I understand that there is some desire to have a board with an appointed aspect to it,” said Romney, whose appointment allowed him to be placed on the board as an incumbent. He won retainment. “But, I don’t have any problem with the way the system is now.”
