None of the eight people who will decide the fate of the MSU College of Human Medicine - the MSU Board of Trustees - attended a meeting where more than 700 faculty members expressed their concerns about the possible move and the administration's lack of faculty inclusion.

But MSU President M. Peter McPherson said the trustees didn't need to come to the all-faculty meeting.

"It'd been unusual if they'd been there," he said. "This is seen as an internal faculty meeting."

MSU Trustee Dee Cook said the trustees have been in communication with many faculty members and will have enough information to make their decision at the May 7 board meeting.

"Maybe the faculty would've greatly appreciated having members of the board there," she said. "But we certainly are very aware of what the faculty are saying."

The decision itself, Cook said, would be an approval of the idea of the move and nothing more.

"We're not going to come out and say, 'OK, all of the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed,'" she said. "We've had a lot of information, but we don't have all the information that we need to say, 'This is it.'"

About two weeks ago, MSU officials released a report detailing the possible move to the western side of the state.

Dr. Nigel Paneth, associate dean for research and professor of epidemiology and pediatrics in the College of Human Medicine, said the trustees must look at everything very carefully before making their decisions.

"They can't put their medical school at risk," he said, adding that the trustees would be blamed if the school decreases in quality. "We could be discredited. The trustees have a very, very heavy responsibility. They really should delegate this to the faculty, who knows what it takes to run a medical school."

Paneth said he thinks administrators are rushing into a decision because there's a small window of opportunity for MSU to gain from Grand Rapids' medical resources.

"No medical school is good unless very tightly tied to a university," he said. "So whatever we do in Grand Rapids has to link very closely to what we do in East Lansing."

The trustees will have another chance to hear from not only faculty members but the rest of the MSU community about the medical school's possible move at a forum on Thursday. The two-part forum will be held from 9 a.m. to noon and then again from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Kellogg Center auditorium.

"This is an expanded opportunity for people to speak," McPherson said, adding that trustees will attend the forum. "We worked hard to be sure as many were there."

Sue Carter, secretary to the Board of Trustees, said at least five trustees will attend the two forums during the day.

Cook, who can't attend for medical reasons, said she regrets not being able to hear the public speak one last time before deciding her vote.

"That's a very positive thing, because again, there'll be more input," Cook said. "I want to hear everything that's said."

McPherson said he hopes Thursday's forum will have the same energy as many faculty members had during last week's Academic Senate meeting.

"It was about academic strength, it wasn't about individual problems," he said. "The comments were uniformly about having interest in making Michigan State stronger. It was a vitality that we should all be proud of."

Amy Bartner can be reached at bartnera@msu.edu.