Media Report
May 11, 2012Commentary: Michigan GOP playing partisan game with university funding
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120511/OPINION01/205110330#ixzz1uYfDUBPR
State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, criticizes the Legislature’s funding plans for higher education suggesting that it has become a partisan game. He writes that Michigan’s Republicans have passed a budget that picks winners and losers among our state institutions, and that they have attached a laundry list of politically-motivated and ideologically-grounded dictates. “Under the guise of "performance criteria," the legislature has passed a budget that conditions funding on criteria that have nothing to do with student or institutional performance. Rather than tying funding increases to graduation rates or economic development impact, the funding increases are conditioned upon stem cell research reporting requirements, eliminating certain internship opportunities, and preventing universities from requiring that students carry health insurance.” Irwin writes that there are major winners and losers in the Lansing higher education appropriations game, with our internationally-renowned research institutions getting the short end of the stick. “The biggest loser is Wayne State University, which serves approximately 33,000 students. Wayne State is set to receive a 0.5 percent increase in funding. The biggest winner? Grand Valley State University, which serves approximately 9,000 fewer students than Wayne State, will enjoy a funding increase over 14 times that of Wayne State.”
State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, criticizes the Legislature’s funding plans for higher education suggesting that it has become a partisan game. He writes that Michigan’s Republicans have passed a budget that picks winners and losers among our state institutions, and that they have attached a laundry list of politically-motivated and ideologically-grounded dictates. “Under the guise of "performance criteria," the legislature has passed a budget that conditions funding on criteria that have nothing to do with student or institutional performance. Rather than tying funding increases to graduation rates or economic development impact, the funding increases are conditioned upon stem cell research reporting requirements, eliminating certain internship opportunities, and preventing universities from requiring that students carry health insurance.” Irwin writes that there are major winners and losers in the Lansing higher education appropriations game, with our internationally-renowned research institutions getting the short end of the stick. “The biggest loser is Wayne State University, which serves approximately 33,000 students. Wayne State is set to receive a 0.5 percent increase in funding. The biggest winner? Grand Valley State University, which serves approximately 9,000 fewer students than Wayne State, will enjoy a funding increase over 14 times that of Wayne State.”
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