Board of Trustees meetings need to attract more students
Those who throw stones at CMU’s medical school endeavor received a new target Thursday.
The Board of Trustees authorized an additional $22 million toward the project, by far its largest investment yet, pushing the total cost to $24 million thus far.
You can hear the criticisms now:
The student: “$24 million? Why are they raising my tuition to fund extravagant new projects for students who are still in high school?”
The professor: “Central should get back to its foundation: sound undergraduate education in basic subjects. Why are we spending $24 million on a medical school when the Faculty Association has to fight for a respectable raise?”
The Athletics Department: “We just beat Michigan State in football. Why aren’t we getting this money?”
OK, that last one wasn’t too realistic. But finding students and instructors who identify with the former two depictions wouldn’t be difficult.
So now, just as Democrats have been trying to convince Americans of health care reform, the administration must make its case to the masses.
Why do we need a medical school? As a current undergraduate, what do I have to gain from this? Why are we making such a large investment during a terrible recession?
So far, the university hasn’t done a good enough job of answering these questions. In fact, the only place that I’ve heard any positive comments about the medical school has been at Board meetings, which are typically not well-attended by students.
I support the idea of a medical school because I’m worried about the drastic physician shortage in rural, northern Michigan. I believe the university, given its resources, has the opportunity to do something about that.
But perhaps I’m a believer because I’m one of the approximately five students who sit through the entirety of Board meetings. The university can’t expect students to go to three-hour meetings to learn about the medical school. The administration needs to go to the students.
This administration-student interaction could be in the form of open forums — “town hall” meetings, if you like. Or perhaps an administration official could write a guest column in this newspaper and begin a dialogue on the issue.
But one way or another, the university needs to make the case, because the CMU community deserves to know why its $24 million is going toward a medical school.
And they shouldn’t have to go to Board meetings to find out.
