GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As calls for Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees to resign continue, one state representative wants voters to make the call by changing the way trustees are selected.
Rep. Jim Lower, D-Cedar Lake, has proposed legislation calling for a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the current boards at Michigan State, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, as well as the state school board. Currently, members are elected during general elections.
Instead, Lower wants the next governor to appoint members at the beginning of 2019, which is the same system every other public university in Michigan uses.
“It’s not a high-profile election where there’s a lot of vetting and thought that goes into it,” Lower told 24 Hour News 8 during a phone interview Wednesday. “When you take a look at the fact that the other 12 (public) universities are appointed and all other states do it by appointment, it doesn’t make sense to do it the way we’re doing now, in my opinion.”
He said House Joint Resolution DD will go before the House Committee on Elections and Ethics Feb. 15. If two-thirds of the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate approve it, voters will make the final call in the November election.
“If (voters) really want these people to still be elected in the hyperpartisan manner that it is now, they could choose so in the ballot,” Lower explained, “But if they want us to switch it over to this new system, they would get to pick that as well.”
He said reception has been positive so far in Lansing.
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