Eleven candidates. Only two spots open.
MSU Board of Trustees candidates will have a free-for-all on Tuesday as 11 candidates vie for two seats on the board currently held by George Perles and Faylene Owen.
Trustees serve on the board for eight years, with two seats up for election every two years.
Here is a summary of the candidates and a background check of their job:
George Perles
Political affiliation: Democratic Party
Perles, a former Pittsburgh Steelers and Spartan football head coach, has served as a trustee since 2006.
Perles said in an interview with the Lansing State Journal he is concerned about the student debt and its impact in future students, although he has approved recent tuition increases along with the rest of the Board of Trustees.
In 2013, Perles was involved in the campaign to maintain the block “S” as an MSU logo, instead of phasing the logo out for the current Spartan helmet logo. The latter one prevailed.
Faylene Owen
Political affiliation: Democratic Party
Owen was first elected to the MSU Board of Trustees in 2006.
In 2013 Owen came under fire after ABC affiliate WXYZ reported that Owen took a trip with her husband to Germany in 2012 to see the MSU men’s basketball team play Connecticut. That trip alone cost the university $26,319.
Owen’s trip to Germany included limousine rides and $1,275-a-night hotel accommodations.
She has since then met with Repulican student groups, naming lower tuition and wasteful spending as her highest priorities..
Melanie Foster
Political affiliation: Republican Party
Foster was first appointed to the MSU Board of Trustees in the years 1991-1992 and was appointed to serve from 2005-2012. She lost her reelection bid in both 1992 and 2012.
Prior serving as a trustee in MSU, Foster was part of the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees.
Foster was featured on WXYZ report after she flew to South Africa with her husband to host an alumni dinner and reception and recruit potential students. The 10-day trip included two personal days.
The total cost of the trip was $20,011, the report said. After the report was released, Foster paid $14,000 to cover her husband’s part of the trip.
In an October forum hosted by the MSU College Republicans, Foster said the MSU is reaching a “tipping point,” where out-of-state and international students could potentially displace in-state students. Foster said the Board of Trustees should focus on the issue.
Terry Link
Political affiliation: Green Party
Link, a recent retired administrator from MSU, is the founder director of the Office of Campus Sustainability.
Divesting endowment holdings from fossil fuel firms, capping salaries and making MSU’s campus a gun-free zone are some of the key points in Link’s platform.
Link, who was elected to Clinton County Commissioner in 2006 and served until 2008, hopes to be the first third party candidate to win a statewide election.
In an interview with the State News, Link highlighted his major goals, which include controlling costs for students, reducing the environmental footprint of the university, and a 10 percent investment (from MSU’s endowment) in local businesses to help the community.
Link is a Wayne State University graduate.
Jeff Sakwa
Political affiliation: Republican Party
Sakwa, a 1982 MSU graduate, ran in 2012 for a seat in the MSU Board of Trustees, but he did not win the spot.
Sakwa, whose campaign slogan is “Bringing conservative values to campus and the classroom,” told the Lansing State Journal that MSU’s responsibility is “to any student who qualifies in the state of Michigan to be able to get in before we take any student from out of state or any student from a foreign country.”
Sakwa wants to help MSU students to graduate in four years or less, make college more affordable using dual enrollment and encouraging students to stay in Michigan after graduation.
Michael Miller , Raymond Moses , Crystal Van Sickle , Stephen Young , Adam Adrianson and Bridgette Guzman are also running for a seat on the Board of Trustees as third-party candidates.
