EDITORIAL: An open letter to President Davies
Dear President Davies,
Welcome to Central Michigan University! Congratulations on being chosen to serve as the 15th president of our university.
CMU is a wonderful place. We hope you and your family grow to love it as much as we do.
Central Michigan Life is the voice of our students, so you’ll be hearing from us. A lot. We believe in truthfulness, transparency and accuracy. We sincerely are looking forward to building a positive relationship with you. We, your student media, are not your enemy.
We at CMU look out for each other. In order for every student to succeed here we want everyone to receive the care, resources and attention we deserve as students paying tuition. You will be getting a lot advice and information from administrators and staff in the coming weeks. Here are some of the concerns we would like to share with you:
Lack of transparency: Sexual assault and sexual harassment happen on every university campus. CMU is no exception. In April, the CMU chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists coordinated a Freedom of Information Act project seeking public information about sexual assault, harassment and violence. A dozen public universities responded to the request – CMU was the only university that refused to provide any records or data.
In April, University Communications announced the appointment of a new dean of libraries. What was not mentioned in that press release, but was later reported by CM Life, is former dean Jeff Luzius was fired. Our university fired him after receiving multiple sexual harassment complaints against him by students and other complainants.
The student body deserves the truth about sexual assault and harassment on our campus. We cannot pretend that sexual assault and harassment never happens here. So please, help make us a more open, transparent campus.
Fees & Tuition: Not long before your hiring, the board of trustees approved a new $225 per semester student service fee. This fee is mandatory. You know student debt is a huge concern for us. How exactly this $10 million per year will be spent has never been fully explained.
As you may already know, our counseling center is in dire need of help. If a student needs counseling services during the school year, it’s not uncommon for them to wait for days, even weeks. As one of your first priorities, please ensure that some of the money from the student service fee immediately goes towards improving our counseling center and its services.
Trustees decided to forgo a tuition increase this year. We appreciate that. Please help keep CMU affordable. We encourage you to follow the lead of former president George Ross who made an effort to increase scholarship dollars for students. It's fine that CMU is one of the least expensive public universities in Michigan. Still, there's rent, the high cost of car insurance, transportation, books and supplies for class, food ...
Education needs to be affordable. Don't let the cost of CMU drive away students.
Invest in all of us: When you arrived on campus, you commented that you prefer asking students "What's your passion?" instead of "What's your major?" You mentioned that while STEM majors get a lot of attention, you also support the humanities. Please keep that in mind when you consider funding requests.
Trustees voiced support for the construction of the Chippewa Champion Center. So have some students and staff. It's a building that will directly benefit the Advancement and Athletics departments, alumni and visitors and some student athletes – but not the average student. About $32 million in donations and university funds will be spent on the project. Other buildings that the majority of students spend their time in – such as Moore, Anspach and Pearce halls – will likely never get that much attention.
The university has also poured a lot of money into facilities for the medical school – which is still largely subsidized by undergraduate students – and the Biosciences building. While the students in those programs deserve the best, liberal arts and humanities students pay just as much tuition and rarely receive any benefit from these projects.
Get out of that office: Get to know us – students, faculty, staff and members of the Mount Pleasant community. Let us get to know you.
We know you will be busy, but you were busy at Murray State, too. At your former university you hosted a barbecue. You also scheduled "Coffee With Bob" sessions for students who wanted to speak with you. Please continue to reach out to the student body. Leave your office and come out on campus. Come to our concerts, plays, RSO events. Meet with faculty and staff and hear their ideas and concerns.
Get to know CMU. It will be the key to your success.
We wish you luck and look forward to working with you.
-Editorial Board of Central Michigan Life
