Thousands of protestors gather for the 50501 movement in protest of the Trump administration’s executive actions at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on April 5, 2025.
The Michigan House of Representatives voted to block a resolution that would change the way the trustees are selected at Michigan State University Wednesday afternoon.
MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University’s governing boards are currently voted on by the public during statewide elections. Michigan is one of four states in the country to rely on statewide elections instead of recommending candidates to the governor for appointment.
The resolution would have changed the state’s constitution to allow governors to appoint trustees onto the governing boards.
The resolution failed 54-52 with four representatives abstaining.
The constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate by the end of the week to qualify for the August ballot. The last session day for Congress is Thursday.
If passed, the resolution would have dismissed all current members of the governing boards at all three universities. Instead of eight members, the number would have increased to nine, with four spots reserved for each party. One member would be reserved as an independent candidate without party affiliation. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would have been allowed to appoint half of the board's members on Dec. 31 and the next governor to appoint the next half on Jan. 1, 2027.
University boards would also have been directly subject to the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
The resolution was backed by two former Michigan Govs. John Engler, a Republican, and Jim Blanchard, a Democrat.
Last week, Whitmer said the selection process for university governing boards should change following the resignation of MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz.
"The way we've selected board members needs to change. The bipartisan proposal to appoint board members would help ensure institutions have the leadership expertise to get things back on track," Whitmer said in a statement to The State News.
Board Chair Brianna Scott, who is currently running for reelection, said in an interview Friday that "the issue is not how you get on the board, but once you do."
"If somebody comes in with an agenda, they’re still gonna be disruptive," Scott said.
At a press conference earlier Wednesday, trustree Rema Vassar said she doesn't "necessarily believe" that the problems amongst MSU's board are "unique" to appointed or elected boards.
"I’m not sure the problems they are thinking they could maybe solve with appointed boards would actually be addressed," Vassar said.
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