Strike one more up for the neighbors to the north…

I was seeking through radio stations this morning on my way to work, and I eventually found one that was playing some decent classic rock.  After a few songs the usual redundant block of commercials began to air.  Typically my ears zone out away from listening to the radio when the ads play, but one special 30-second spot caught my attention.  The voice on the radio was telling me to do something that I had never heard before….Vote.  Not to vote for a specific candidate or against a certain ballot initiative, but rather just going to the polls and voting.  It told me how to register to vote, how to find something called an “advanced polling location”, and then blamed me for a decline in society for not voting.  Then it said something else…Canada.  This was an advertisement from Elections Ontario, a “nonpartisan agency of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.”  That’s right, this is Ontario’s version of the Secretary of State!

When was the last time you saw the Michigan Secretary of State’s office advertise to us, the general public, about voting?  Now I understand why Canada has higher voter turnout rates that the United States.  Their elections officers reach out to citizens instead of pushing them away and creating barriers for them to get to the polls.  Canada averages 65-70% on major governmental elections while here we go to the polls at a rate of 50-55% (although the percentage is rising as major election reform begins to take place throughout the country).  They also offer polls that are open weeks before the actual election day for those citizens who will be out of town and prefer not to hassle with mail-in ballots (concept we call “early voting” in the election-reform business), and require employers to provide three consecutive hours of polling time versus the United States’ one.

However, all things are not great in Canada, as youth (18-24) voter turnout is slightly lower than the United States, and is actually in decline while here it is rising.  I guess there aren’t as many great student-led organizations such as the United States Student Association, Rock the Vote, and the Eastern Votes Coalition, in Canada as there are here.  Oh well, at least Elections Ontario has a sweet slogan: VOTING: Every Day It Matters.

SAM rally videos

I’ve uploaded the video taken from the Student Association of Michigan rally held on Sept. 26. It is divided into seven clips that are hosted on YouTube, each a little less than 10 minutes each (YouTube only allows 10 minutes clips and I don’t have the personal webspace to put a few hundred MBs up) .

Part 1:

Read on for the rest of the clips

51% support universal health care through taxation, Drew Carey says

I was just watching “Power of 10″, Drew Carey’s game show (before Price is Right), and one of the questions was about the percentage of Americans (according to their poll with an unknown case number) who support higher taxes to pay for universal health care.  Their answer was 51%, so at least based on the game show’s simple observations it seems that this country is finally moving in the right (well I mean left) direction.

Note: please don’t submit comments that call me an idiot for believing statistics from a game show on television, I know they are not reliable – it’s just a fun thought.

SAM rally on 9/26 as outcry against budget

On Wednesday, September 26, the Student Association of Michigan (SAM) will be hosting a rally outside of the Capitol building in Lansing.  The time is TBD, but should be sometime in the afternoon, most likely 2:30ish.  The goal of this rally is to bring more awareness to the burden that students are being forced to carry as the Michigan Legislature cuts funding (at minimum does not give inflationary raises) to the state’s public higher education system.

Students are organizing on all of Michigan’s university campuses and on several community college campuses to have students present at the rally, and a minimum goal of 1,000 students present at the rally has been set.  Lobbying of legislators will also take place in the morning before the event in order to have students personally give testimony of the financial (and other types) drain the state legislature has dealt them as they bear the burden of budget cutting.

Professors, staff members, and general supporter are invited to attend the rally as well, and at minimum some sort of extra-credit (or no penalties) be given to students who must miss class to be at this event so imperative to the student voice.

For more information about the rally and/or how to participate, contact me at mhaynes@emich.edu,  Greg Jones (EMU Student Body President) at gjones5@emich.edu, or Mohammad Dar (UM-AA Student Body VP and Rally Lead Planner) at  jehuty@umich.edu.

Va Tech President defends himself…deja vu

It seems from this article on Yahoo! News that the University President at Virginia Tech is being pressured by the public to resign or be fired over not having known about the tragedy that was about to happen. One of his defenses is that supposedly other people had retained information from his office while decisions were being made, which would have made the threat more visible.

Now where have I heard this before? Ah ha! That’s right, it’s the same defense given by former EMU University President John A. Fallon III. Well if the world is consistent like it should be, then the VA Tech President mind as well start looking for a job and a spot on Larry King. On the other side of the coin, if he gets to keep his job, then we owe somebody an apology, at minimum.

Negative job eval costs Nevada university system $3 million

I just read this on the AP wire site.  It is an article about how the chancellor of the Nevada university system (he’s like the university president of all the universities) has retracted his proposed $3 million donation after receiving negative comments from a Board of Regents member.

That sounds like a great idea, let’s take out our frustration at our bosses by taking away money from students for new facilities. This guy, who also resigned for only one day earlier this year after fighting with another Regent, really cares about his students.  Who let him work in higher education?

Spotlight on students in educational shared governance

Hats off to Ypsilanti High School in making a strong effort to include students as a major factor in their decisions regarding the selection of a new mascot. According to the Ypsilanti Courier (Thurs, Aug 23)

“A committee will be formed consisting of ten members and a facilitator. The committee will include the high school principal or his designee, a high school counselor, a high school teacher, the Student Council president, a Senior Cabinet representative, a student athlete, a student representative at large, a community business member and two community members.”

Four out of the ten committee members are students. 40%! How many EMU committees can say that they are comprised of similar or better shared governance with students (I can only think of the Student Leader Group, but the name says it all with that one)? While determining a high school mascot may not be the same as picking a university president or setting security policies, it is still a decision that will have a lasting impact on the school and community around it (source: see reaction from EMU mascot change from Hurons to Eagles, circa 1990s).

Voting bills make it through House committee

UPDATE! 7-30-07: Three of the election reform bills introduced into the house (as described below) were passed in the Michigan House of Representatives last week.

HB 4553 (96-12), HB 4447 (58-50) and HB 4448 (57-51) were approved by our representatives, and while HB 4553 is expected to cleanly move through the Senate, HB 4447 and HB 4448 (repealing the “Roger’s Act”) will have a much tougher time.

Thanks to Brandon White, Michigan Field Organizer for the United States Student Association for this information.

———————

Yesterday the Michigan House of Representatives Ethics and Elections Committee voted out four bills which will ultimately increase access to the ballot box for both college students and the elderly.

House Bills 4048 (removes any requirements for requesting absentee ballots), 4553 (automatically has absentee ballots mailed to citizens over the age of 60), and 4447/4448 (repeals the “Roger Act” requiring voter registration addresses to match those found on driver’s licenses) were all reported to the general chamber with a fairly party-line vote (aside from HB 4553 which was unanimous) .

Insiders say that the bills will have hardly any trouble passing through the State House, although much difficulty is expected when the bills go through the Republican-controlled Senate. At least for the time being there are grand steps in the right direction towards making voting easier and accessible to many more Michigan residents.

Let the tuition hikes begin

So far a few schools have announced their tuition increases for the upcoming year, and for the most part are somewhat a lesser (yet still devastating) blow to the students’ budgets. I will try to update this as I learn more about all the other tuition percentages as they are announced.

 

Michigan State – 9.6%
Michigan Tech – 9.5%
Ferris State – 6.7%
Oakland University – 14%
Central Michigan – 21% (increase compared to last year’s new student rate, flat-rate tuition for incoming ew students, actual 4.2% increase over 5 years)
Lake Superior State – 9.3%
Grand Valley State – 9.9%
Eastern Michigan – 9.5% (8% undergrad, 8.5% grad, no fee change)
University of Michigan – 7.4%

 

 

 

I support President Fallon

With all this national publicity regarding the investigation and supposed “cover-up” of the Laura Dickinson murder here at EMU, many people, especially faculty union representatives and outspoken faculty members, have demanded the resignation of our university president, Dr. John Fallon.

I want to put it out there that I firmly support Dr. Fallon and believe that he does indeed have a clear vision and drive for the betterment of our university, and that EMU is in good hands with him at the wheel.  I feel that a large group of people have jumped the gun and placed more blame on him that is appropriate, and that demanding a resignation from him at such an early stage in the investigation is preposterous.  It seems that what is really happening is that faculty union members are simply looking for a reason to eliminate administrative members who stand in their way of gigantic pay raises and any benefits package they ask for.  The same people have been blaming Dr. Fallon for everything from his first day a few years ago, and it’s simply due to the innate nature of a union to outright hate its management.

I do not mean to say that Dr. Fallon has washed his hands clean of blame for this issue, as it is blatantly obvious that he did make mistakes with this situation, as well as several other staff and administrators.  However, I do feel that based on the first report and my experience as an involved student watching Dr. Fallon work, that the mistakes he appeared to have made during the course of the incident and subsequent information do not warrant a penalty so harsh as resignation.

I also believe that both Jim Vick, vice president of student affairs, and Chief Cindy Hall, head of the Dept for public safety, have done great things for the students, including myself, here at EMU.  They have served as role models for students throughout their years of service, and I don’t doubt for a second their commitment to the students and the success of this university.  They are important assets to our educational experience, both within and outside of the classroom.  However, it appears to me that the mistakes made by them, according to the first report by the firm hired by the EMU Board of Regents, in regards to information that was communicated vertically through the university may have been much more detrimental and destructive to this institution than the ones made by other administrators and staff members.

Unfortunately, someone (and more likely some people) will have to face harsh consequences as a result of the investigation, but in my honest opinion I don’t believe that Dr. Fallon is the one that should be forced out.  We must now wait until the federal Dept. of Education releases their report and the Board of Regents gives a response to the events that began last December before any true blame can be placed on anyone and any punishments be handed out.