As many of you know, discussion of raising your tuition is taking place right now. Not if, but how much. On Friday, May 6, the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents convened a committee gathering with university administrators and deans.
The topic? I can’t say for sure – it’s the sort of meeting that’s not publicized to the community. But, I was informed the “informational gathering” was about budget cuts.
Now is the time to voice your opinion.
I’m not calling for a journey to Lansing so seven or eight of you speak to a state representative’s aide. In fact, there’s no need to even leave the university’s campus.
If you really want your voices heard, EMU President Sue Martin, Chief Financial Officer John Lumm and the entire Board of Regents are whom you need speak to.
A few things the student body might want to consider before sounding off: Should EMU transfer monies from the general fund to prop up failing athletic programs like football? Should the Board of Regents continue doling out $100,000-plus-per-year salaries to non-instructional staff? Can they be replaced with graduate assistants or subcontractors? Should a faculty member who takes an administrative position for a year or two keep their administrative wage once they return to the classroom? In some cases, professors are making over $200,000 for teaching a few classes per semester.
Now, faculty are an easy target. They take up the bulk of the budget. But, let’s keep in mind an adjunct professor making around $3,000 per semester per class is a profit machine for the University. Add your tuition for that class and multiply it by the number of classmates – let’s say 25. That’s a moneymaker for EMU, eh?
Budget decisions are where the rubber meets the road. All the yak and rhetoric from EMU leadership about promoting opportunities, expanding horizons, spreading wings, etc. doesn’t mean a thing – funding it all does.
“Education First,” they say? Ask them to prove it.
The administration held several public meetings over the last several weeks, but you must let the Board hear your voice. They are the ultimate deciders. They set your tuition rates – not President Martin, not Governor Snyder.
The Board of Regents’ next public hearing is June 21. That is the date they vote on how much to raise your tuition and which of your programs to cut. Of course, by then their decisions are made. So you must contact them before that June 21 meeting.
There will be several Board “gatherings” over the next month. Whether they will be open to us is unclear.
I suggest you contact them any way you can. Their information is at www.emich.edu/regents. You might even show up at one of those forbidden gatherings, usually held at the Eagle Crest.
Either way, here and now is where you earn your right to complain about tuition costs. If you wait, to quote the band Korn, “your scream’s a whisper.”
