During the last MSA meeting before spring break, the assembly decided to let students decide if they want to back a drive for a voting student regent with their wallets. Students will have the opportunity to approve a one-time student fee of $11 ($5.50 each semester) in this year's spring MSA elections. The money would support a signature drive to gather the 310,000 names required to place the student regent issue on the statewide ballot in the fall.
While a voting student regent would improve the student voice at the University, the student fee is not very practical. Students on campus are not likely to offer to pay an extra $11 when its ability to win a student regent is tenuous. MSA is equipped to lobby and work toward getting a student regent proposal on the state ballot, even without a new fee.
If students approve the fee, the regents have to give their collective nod before it appears as an additional charge on tuition bills. It seems unlikely that the regents would approve a large fee for an issue that they believe could diminish their power. However, if the board did bow to a wave of student opinion, getting the issue on the ballot could still be a difficult task.
To collect the required signatures, MSA would have to organize a statewide drive, most likely hiring a professional headhunting firm. It would be a massive undertaking that MSA has not proven it is equipped or ready to handle. Several years ago, advocates of physician-assisted suicide - who had a significantly more organized grassroots structure in place - failed to collect the requisite number of signatures to get their issue on the ballot. There is no reason to believe that MSA could do much better with a hefty fee.
If the question made the ballot, how could voters be persuaded to support the issue? The lack of a support structure behind the proposal is more significant than money. MSA's student regent task force should continue to try to work with the student governments of Michigan State University and Wayne State University, who also stand to benefit from such a proposal. A coalition of the three schools would be better equipped to handle a statewide drive.
MSA has had little direct success in finding a state congressperson to introduce the ballot proposal into the legislature. State Sen. Joseph Schwarz (R-Battle Creek), a University alumnus and the highest-ranking member of the sub-committee on Higher Education, decided not to support the issue, making it very difficult to get the proposal introduced - much less find two-thirds of the legislature to approve it.
However, the setback does not mean that MSA should stop lobbying the legislature. MSA must apply constant pressure on the issue and continue to try to persuade the state legislature to consider placing it on the ballot. The ballot question in the MSA election could drop the student regent issue altogether. MSA should not dismiss the idea of a voting student regent simply because students are unwilling to pay the assembly additional funds. MSA would do better to educate students - and the rest of the state - about the benefits of a voting student regent before they ask for such a hefty fee.