Students discuss Institute, budget at final forum
About 40 people raised their hands Tuesday when Bay City senior Dan Gaken asked, “How many of you came out to support the Leadership Institute?”
The supporters made up half of the crowd that filled the Bovee University Center Lake Huron room during an open forum hosted by University President Michael Rao.
Leadership Institute advocates spoke at length about keeping the organization intact.
Rao said the student forum, which was the only one this semester, was easily the best-attended of the year.
He said he received the first round of budget-cut recommendations Tuesday and fielded many questions about his views on the importance of the Institute, Honors College and various academic programs.
“I’m not interested in seeing (the Leadership Institute) go away,” Rao said. “I find our leadership scholars are among the most engaged and interested students we have.”
Budget cuts and tuition were foremost on many minds. Rao addressed faculty and class cuts, saying whatever was in the fall class schedule would stay there and personnel cuts would possibly not be announced until early June.
Recent controversy about CMU’s treatment of American Indians also was brought up. Rao said CMU may not be honoring the Chippewa nickname as well as it could be.
“I’m not going to tell you that I think the university is in a great position to defend that it’s doing as much as it should be doing to try and honor, not only the nickname, but all of its people,” he said. “We have some work to do and there’s no question about it.”
Rao also said there is insufficient recruitment of American Indian students and is aware of concerns with CMU’s handling of the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver.
“I’ve gotten several reports that there are problems with the way in which these tuition waivers are being handled,” he said. “Right now, we’re obviously waiting to hear from folks who are involved in that to hear from their side of the situation.”
Rao fielded a question concerning tuition increases.
“Although students don’t think so, I think we are paying dearly for not keeping our tuition at the state average,” he said. “I know nobody will like the cuts, but if everyone cries out we’ll have to get rid of people and I’m not in any hurry to do that.”
Rao spoke briefly on the importance of diversity among campus leaders and the general student populace.
“I’m interested in seeing opportunities expand for ethnic minorities as well as women leaders and international students,” he said.
North Carolina senior Rob Harrison had two issues on his mind — tuition waivers for military students and a new women’s field hockey playing surface.
Rao said a surface was among the university’s top priorities but had no immediate solutions to offer.
“I care about the lives of everyone on campus and how they will be affected, but, I need more time to think through this,” Rao said.
Harrison said the university needs to have a field for its players.
“It’s feasible to say we need a new football field, but we also need a field hockey field for the 19 to 20 scholarship athletes,” Harrison said.
He also said it was unfair that some are awarded scholarships based on race but military personnel get “laughed at” when they approach CMU about the same issue.
“It’s tough for minorities, but impossible for soldiers who put their lives on the line for this country,” he said.
