Not Everyone On Board With Rally

From the Michigan Daily:

Tomorrow afternoon, as many as 200 University students will board buses rented by MSA and head to the state Capitol, where many plan to ask legislators not to cut funding and give the University the $29.6 million monthly payment the state withheld in August. MSA members say that if the University doesn't get the money, it could be forced to raise tuition in the middle of the year. University officials have refused to speculate on tuition increases.

MSA President Zack Yost urged students to attend the rally in an e-mail message sent to all University students on Thursday. Additionally, MSA representatives announced the rally before the start of large lectures around campus and distributed pledge cards.

"We're aiming for 200 students, but even getting that many people to come to an event on campus is difficult," Yost said.

Yost said he asked Faculty Senate Chair Charles Smith and Jennifer Meyers, the associate director of the Residential College, to ask faculty members to be lenient with students who are absent because of the rally.

Neither Smith nor Meyers returned calls for comment yesterday.

At least six students associated with campus conservative groups plan to attend the rally but hope to convince attendees that cuts to the University's budget - not an increase in state funding - are the way to prevent mid-year tuition hikes.

"We believe that lower tuition can be achieved through fiscal responsibility," said the counter-protest's organizer, Justin Zatkoff, the head of the Michigan Federation of College Republicans.

Yost welcomes anyone interested in attending the rally, but said he is disappointed that these students don't share MSA's viewpoint on the issue.

"Anyone who wants to come help prevent this tuition increase can come," Yost said. "That's fine."

Zatkoff and his fellow College Republicans - working with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative Michiganthink tank - plan to distribute flyers containing information provided by the Mackinac Center arguing that the University should cut its spending to prevent a tuition hike.

"There's little to no evidence saying that higher appropriations from the state translate into lower tuition," Zatkoff said. "They just lead to bigger budgets, higher salaries and gold-plated amenities."

Full story here.