As Sayrah Namaste waited at an MSU medical center Wednesday, she overheard two janitorial employees discussing the donation of money to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
One employee said he was asked to contribute but declined because he and his wife had already withdrawn everything from their savings to donate one week earlier.
"He looked like he was at retirement age," Namaste said. "I was touched."
It is this same generosity that Namaste suggested the university show through various resources, not only monetary, when she spoke to the MSU Board of Trustees at its meeting Friday.
The graduate student and member of Students for Economic Justice spoke during the time allotted for public response and presented several university resources that could possibly be used for victims, regardless of whether they have an MSU affiliation.
"I commended them for what was done so far, but encouraged them to offer resources for evacuees who have relocated to Lansing," she said. "I pointed out where I live - there are 23 vacant apartments - and suggested to open up the housing to them."
Namaste said she also suggested temporarily opening up the food system and library resources to Hurricane Katrina victims.
The remarks changed the conversation within members of the board, said Austin Jackson, a visiting assisting instructor of Writing, Rhetoric and American Culture and adjunct professor for James Madison College, who attended the meeting with Namaste.
"The conversation focused on what the (American) Red Cross has done with simply assisting," he said. "But after she spoke and I spoke, I feel like the conversation did turn. We have to do more for the poor. Several of the board members expressed that."
Trustee Dee Cook said the views expressed mirrored her own.
"The university has a wealth of talented and intelligent people with great ideas about how they can be of service for people who are in need," Cook said. "It's just an overwhelming issue."
Namaste said the board discussed the class issues associated with the disaster. The board has not said if and when it might take action on the issue.
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon asked Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office of Affirmative Action Compliance & Monitoring, to respond to the group's concerns, Namaste said.
"She said the most affected were poor and black," Namaste said. "We needed to talk about that."
But Trustee Colleen McNamara said extra resources from the university aren't necessary. The Lansing area didn't receive the number of Hurricane Katrina victims it anticipated and the university has already devoted much to the relief effort, she said.
"I was extremely impressed with how the university was handling (it), in terms of university resources," McNamara said. "I'm curious whether (Namaste and Jackson have) gone to the resources already pulled together."
As a state school, MSU should be a model for helping, Jackson said.
"It really exposed the racial and class divide in American," Jackson said. "In keeping with the president's goal of the university being a model university for the 21st century, we felt that bringing in victims would be a good reflection of that legacy."
