The MSU Board of Trustees' first meeting of 2025 at the Hannah Administration building in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees will meet Friday to revote on a resolution hiking room and board rates that included an error when initially voted on, a spokesperson confirmed.
The board initially voted to pass the cost increase at its April 11 meeting.
The resolution trustees considered then correctly indicated that the housing and dining rate would be increased by 2.9% if passed, spokesperson Amber McCann said, but the listed dollar amount increase didn’t match up with that figure.
"The sole purpose of the meeting on (Friday) will be to vote on a revised resolution that will resolve that discrepancy," McCann said in an emailed statement.
The meeting will be held virtually and can be attended by members of the public, but will not contain a public comment session, as is typical for special meetings that focus on one vote or topic, McCann said.
McCann said she expects "a notice to be posted 24 hours in advance."
Friday’s revote will follow the board’s initial 5-3 vote to approve the housing and dining rate increase at its April 11 meeting. During discussion of the resolution at that meeting, dissenting trustees raised concerns over where exactly the money from students room and board fees is going.
The money students pay for room and board solely constitutes the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services operating budget, according to the original resolution. That budget funds campus dining halls and dorm buildings; though some money is pulled to support broader university initiatives, like the free CATA bus service for undergraduates; and campus renovations, like those to Campbell Hall that are currently underway.
One specific renovation that students’ room and board fees are funding, though, raised a particular red flag among the trustees who voted against the resolution: $1.7 million from students’ housing and dining fees is earmarked for “seating replacements and accessibility updates to Breslin Center,” the resolution said.
Trustee Dennis Denno said he had "serious concerns" that housing and dining fees would support renovations to the basketball arena. Trustee Mike Balow said he would like to see funding for Breslin Center improvements come from a different department’s budget, rather than Residential and Hospitality Services.
Denno and Balow were joined by Trustee Rema Vassar in voting against the resolution.
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