Eight people, including two incumbents, are running for the Board of Regents in next week’s election. They are:
Paul W. Brown
Undergraduate education, including student experiences in and outside of the classroom, is one of the major issues facing the U-M, according to Regent Paul W. Brown, a Mackinac Island Democrat.
Brown would like to see expansion of research opportunities for undergraduate students, more small seminar classes and more opportunities for students to participate in athletics.
Brown, chairman of the Arnold Transit Co. and director of First National Bank of St. Ignace, has served as a Regent since 1971. He received a bachelor’s degree from the U-M in 1956 and a U-M law degree in 1961.
The University has made a lot of progress in many areas since 1971, Brown notes, including an endowment fund that has grown from $65 million to over $1 billion, an increase in minority enrollment from 2,500 to 7,500 students and a research budget that has grown from $54 million to $300 million annually.
Kevin Carey
Workers World Party candidate Kevin Carey, a substitute teacher in the Detroit Public Schools, is seeking a seat on the Board of Regents to ensure that all working class organizations are represented on the board.
Speaking for Carey, campaign coordinator Jerry Rosen told the Record that “the U-M has historically been and continues to be non-responsive to its responsibility as a public institution to be inclusive. It has never met its goals for affirmative action for African American students. The University should reflect the community at large.”
The party also calls for free tuition in all public universities, and for schools to open their admissions to everyone. “Funding to allow the free tuition could come from diverting funds that go to the Pentagon and are not returned to the state, and by levying a 10 percent tax on auto company products. That alone would make available more funds than are spent on higher education now,” Rosen said.
Carey graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in political science.
Andrea L. Fischer
Republican Andrea L. Fischer is seeking a seat on the board “because I think the U-M is one of the finest institutions of higher education in the country and as an alumna I can make contributions to maintain that status.”
“There needs to be a balance between the University directly serving the people of the state of Michigan, who are largely responsible for funding the University, and the national interest in research and scholarship beyond the boundaries of state.”
Fischer feels that long-term financial considerations, making the University cost-effective, should be “the highest priority for anyone on the board. If elected, I would explore means to keep costs in check, keep tuition at reasonable levels, and maintain the University’s high standards.”
Among the approaches she would explore are privatization of certain services, reviewing services and dropping programs duplicated by other schools, exploring new sources of capital and taking an innovative approach to seeking private endowments, including those from foreign sources.
Fischer also would like to see more outstate students to bring in more tuition money. “We need to examine the tuition level in light of overall resources and assess the balance between instate and outstate students.”
Fischer holds a B.A. with honors from the U-M and a law degree from George Washington University.
She is a senior principal in the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone P.L.C.
Daniel Horning
Republican Daniel Horning has “been aiming for a seat” on the Board of Regents ever since he graduated from the U-M 12 years ago. “It’s been a goal of mine since the day I walked off the campus. It was really a matter of time and this time is appropriate with two entrenched Democrats up for re-election.”
“A seat on the Board of Regents,” Horning notes, “will enable me to do whatever I can to pay back the Univer-sity that has been so great to me and my family.”
Among the issues Horning would address if he were elected is maintaining the balance between educating students and research and finding alternative financing methods.
“Maintaining the excellence is very important, but it’s also very expensive,” Horning says. “We have to continue to expand the University but not reduce the delivery power of education. To do without budget cuts means finding alternative funding methods. We need to get to the citizens, alumni and industry for their support, to go out and sell the Uni-versity.”
Horning is a U-M graduate and is a partner in the District Agency of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Grand Haven.
Emily H. Salvette
Libertarian Emily Salvette, an Ann Arbor resident, received her B.A. in economics in 1977 and an M.A. in telecommunications in 1993, both from the U-M. She has been active in the Alumni Association since 1981 and is currently serving on the governing board of Henderson House, an alumnae-owned and operated women’s cooperative for students.
Salvette says two of the key issues are independence for the University so it can adapt to change and freedom of speech on campus.
“That means cutting down our dependence on state funding,” she says. “The University should become a private college. That would end accountability to the state Legislature.”
She also supports freedom of speech and is against student codes of any kind.
“I do not support and never have supported any of the attempts to bring in a speech code, student conduct code, or any other code they are trying to impose to get around the constitutional right of freedom of speech,” Salvette says.
James L. Waters
James L. Waters, an attorney from Muskegon and a Regent since 1971, says among the major issues facing the U-M is the need to continue to focus efforts on private fund-raising. “I do not see any increase in the state level of funding. If we are going to hold tuition down, the money will have to come from private fund-raising.”
The Michigan Agenda for Women also will require a lot of effort to bring about equality at the U-M, Waters said.
To increase income, the U-M will need to find non-traditional ways to expand services, including teaching off-campus courses through a television-type network. Scheduling more classes early and late in the day is another way to make better use of capital resources that otherwise sit idle, Waters said.
Waters, president of Waters, Cook, Oslund and Waugh Law Firm, P.C., received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wastern Michigan University in 1967 and a U-M law degree 1970.
Editor’s Note: The Record was unable to reach Libertarian candidate Gary R. Bradley and William B. Quarton, Natural Law Party candidate.
