The MSU Board of Trustees first meeting of 2025 is interrupted by dozens of pro Palestinian protestors demanding a resolution to an ongoing standoff between protestors and university leadership at the Hannah Administration building in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees will vote Friday on whether to ask for more state funds to finance a proposed $340 million Engineering and Digital Innovation Center.
If approved, the 260,000 square foot center will house 12 learning spaces and workspace for 65 researchers. It will primarily be used by the College of Engineering, Natural Science, Arts and Letters, Broad College of Business, Communications Arts and Sciences, and Social Science.
To make way for the center, the Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Building and the abandoned Water Reservoir would be demolished. Red Cedar Road between S. Shaw Lane and Wilson Road would also be permanently closed and converted to a greenway that connects the center to the College of Engineering building.
The pricey project is being considered as all campus units are being asked to trim their budgets.
MSU announced in June that it would reduce its operating budget by 9% over the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years. To meet the goal, 1.3% of MSU’s employees have been laid off and various operating expenses have been cut.
The university has argued that the new center is needed to “accommodate current and planned growth in student enrollment”, according to a June 2022 memorandum outlining the plan for the center. The administration has also claimed that the center will benefit the state economy, building a skilled job pool for scientific and technical fields.
Friday, the board will vote on a new capital plan, which includes asking for an additional $70 million contribution from the State of Michigan to offset the cost of the center.
The state already appropriated $30 million to MSU for the center, under a higher education bill passed in July 2023.
If the state approves the $70 million, MSU plans to finance the remaining $240 million with a combination of donations and debt, including a $10 million donation announced last week and allocation of previously issued century bond funds. After the center is constructed, there would then be an estimated $7 million in annual costs of building operations, maintenance, and utilities.
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