Every student at the  University of Michigan donates  $5.69 to the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) each full term, or $2.85 each half term. With a student body of about 35,000, the MSA brings in approximately a half million dollars annually; $200,000 of which is allocated to student groups regardless of political affiliation through the Budget Priorities Committee. The MSA also has a discretionary fund that is used for various events throughout the year, such as the Guster concert to encourage voter registration, and more recently, “Affirmative Action 102”, a program organized by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) and the MSA Peace and Justice Commission.

“Affirmative Action 102” is a “week of education and action” from October 15th to 19th that will feature workshops, speeches, and debates on Affirmative Action. Headlining the events will be appearances by the Reverend Jesse Jackson and former member of the California Board of Regents Ward Connerly. Two members from the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), also known as the plaintiffs in the current admissions lawsuits with the University, comprise the entire list of anti-Affirmative Action speakers with Mr. Connerly.
Several MSA members questioned the political balance of the speaker list at the October 6th meeting, a valid issue considering the current list of speakers. Besides Rev. Jackson, there are number of prominent Affirmative Action proponents. According to a list of speakers found on the BAMN website (http://www.bamn.com), author Jonathan Kozol “has been one of the nation’s leading experts on the impact of racism and poverty on minority and other disadvantaged children in America’s urban public schools.” Also speaking will be Dr. Walter Allen and Dr. Danny Solorzano from the University of California at Los Angeles; both are also scheduled to testify as expert witnesses in the University of Michigan Law School admissions lawsuit. In fact, six of the ten speakers listed are testifying as expert witnesses for the student intervenor defendants in the Law School lawsuit.  Additionally, Bill Kidder, UCLA Law School Student, described as a “researcher on the impact of race, ethnicity and gender on the LSAT for Testing for Public”, is a member of the defense team for the lawsuit.

Even with the obvious pro-Affirmative Action slant of “Affirmative Action 102”, MSA has give the program strong support, despite a Michigan Daily poll last year that showed student opinion of Affirmative Action policies split almost evenly. At their September 26th meeting, MSA passed a resolution in support of “Affirmative Action 102” and the October 19th National Day of Action. The resolution included allocating $11,785 of its $13,000 (approximate) committee discretionary budget to help alleviate some expenses for the program. At both the September 26th and the October 3rd meeting, various MSA members pleaded with the rest of the assembly exercise fiscal responsibility and not spend the majority of the discretionary budget on one event. In fact, a motion was made at the September 26th meeting to cut the budget in the resolution, but the amendment failed by a vote of 9 for, 13 against, and 3 abstentions. The original resolution, with full budget then passed 17 for, 3 against, and 4 abstentions.

The items funded in the resolution break down as follows: $390 for Angell Hall Auditoriums; $210 for Mason Hall Classrooms; $105 for microphone rental; $200 for refreshments; $100 for programs; $3,000 each for Rev. Jackson and Mr. Connerly (each would receive $1,000 each for travel, plus a $5,000 honorarium for Jackson and $9,000 for Connerly); $1,491.20 for 5,000 11” x 17” two color posters; 1,718.75 for 25,000 4” x 5” flyers; and $1570.80 for a one-day full page advertisement in the Michigan Daily. Incidentally, all the printing except for the legal document compilation is being done by Kolossos Copies, which is also Jessica Curtin’s current place of employment.  In addition, Kolossos charges 5 cents per side, that calculates to $625 for the 25,000 flyers, not the quoted $1,718. As a reference, the budget for two semesters worth of MSA elections is currently set at $4,350. Nevertheless, the resolution was passed, and MSA would have to survive for the rest of the year with less than $2,000 in the committee discretionary fund.

Or so it would seem. During the October 6th MSA meeting Jessica Curtin, Peace and Justice Commission Co-chair, motioned to amend the resolution from the previous week. Rev. Jackson is apparently willing to appear for free, and would not have any travel expenses since he will be in Detroit earlier in the week. Also, the Young America’s Foundation agreed to foot all of Ward Connerly’s expenses. This understandably freed up a large chunk of the “Affirmative Action 102” budget. Accordingly, Curtin wanted to reappropriate the moneys previously allocated towards Rev. Jackson and Mr. Connerly to help pay for other speakers. MSA members against the amendment argued that moving the money amounted to a shell game. That is, money that was not needed from MSA the previous week was now being considered necessary. During the ensuing debate, LSA representative Matt Nolan made a motion to amend the amendment and return the $6,000 to the committee discretionary fund. This motion failed 12 to 13 with 1 abstention. Looking for a compromise Vice President Jim Secreto moved to allocate $3,000 for speakers and $3,000 for discretionary, which failed to the count of 9 to 18 with 1 abstention.

 Curtin’s original unaltered amendment was then voted on, and the vote 14 for and 12 against was short of the two-thirds majority required to alter a previously passed resolution. The $6,000 presumably returns to the committee discretionary fund, since it will not be used for the reasons requested in the original resolution’s budget. The reason for Nolan’s amendment was somewhat unclear, since it would have had the same effect as failing the original amendment.

This leaves MSA’s committee discretionary fund with an additional $6,000, giving them a total that is still less than previous years but much more adequate than the low figure they were faced with at the beginning of the meeting, although the where this money ultimately goes remains to be seen.