Amid MSU scandals, trustee candidates outline their plans for transparency and accountability

Hannah Administration Building at Michigan State University | Susan J. Demas

In recent years, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees has become a sore subject for many students, faculty and alumni, as accusations of misconduct and infighting within the board culminated in board members asking Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to remove former board Chair Rema Vassar and Trustee Dennis Denno.

Alongside the tumult on the board, the university has continued to reckon with the crimes of disgraced former gymnastics doctor and convicted pedophile Larry Nassar, the Feb. 13, 2023, mass shooting on campus alongside several other lawsuits and controversies.

Democratic Trustee Diane Byrum’s and Republican Trustee Dan Kelly’s terms are both set to expire at the end of the year. Byrum, who has served on the board after she was first elected in 2008, announced she would not seek reelection. While Kelly sought to retain his seat, delegates at the Michigan Republican Party’s state convention voted against his renomination .

Save for Kelly and independent Sandy Pierce , the eight-member board is made up of Democrats, with each trustee elected for an eight-year term.

With two new trustees set to fill seats left open by Byrum and Kelly, the Michigan Advance spoke with the candidates about their decision to run for trustee, how they hope to support the university alongside its students and faculty, and how they would work to restore trust to the embattled board.

Here is the our interviews with the four major-party candidates:

Rebecca Bahar-Cook focuses on costs and housing

Democratic former Ingham County Commissioner Rebecca Bahar-Cook is an MSU alum who runs a consulting business, as well a serving on the board for a variety of organizations including the Capital Area Community Foundation, the Rotary Club of Lansing, the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Specialty Hospital and Capital Area Michigan Works Workforce Development Board.

“I am really good at working with people to solve problems, right? How to find solutions and how to get from point A to point B,” Bahar-Cook told the Advance.

As an alum with two children recently graduated from the university, Bahar-Cook pointed to her love for MSU as her reason for seeking a seat on the board.

Her top concern for the university is rising tuition rates and ensuring Michigan State remains affordable for Michigan families.

“We were founded on that principle, and I think that we really have to be very creative about either finding new sources of funding or strategic surgical cuts in the budget,” Bahar-Cook said.

Additionally, if elected to the board, she would like to see the university expand its connections with local communities and economic development agencies about the jobs needed in Michigan so MSU can be more deliberate about keeping its graduates in Michigan.

To support students and faculty, Bahar-Cook said she would like to see an expansion of mental health services in addition to examining housing.

“If we’re going to increase the number of students that we’re accepting into the university — which I think is a great thing — We have to make sure that we have the facilities, tools, resources for them to have a good experience while they’re here,” Bahar-Cook said.

When discussing trust and transparency, Bahar-Cook expressed optimism that with a new president and two new members, the board will be able to learn from its past and that they will be willing to listen to outside stakeholders.

“In my opinion, the students and the people of Michigan are my constituents. They’re the ones that elect me, you know, to be able to talk to me, I should be able to listen to them,” Bahar-Cook said.

“I think it’s important to always hear two sides of the story. And if we’re not talking to everybody involved, we’re not hearing everything we need to make good decisions,” she said.

When asked about how MSU can support freedom of speech and student safety amid ongoing protests of Israel’s war on Gaza, Bahar-Cook said the university has been “walking that fine line pretty well.”

She noted how students were able to obtain permits for an encampment on campus without altercations with MSU Public Safety, and how MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz was able to organize a meeting with students in response to protest at a board meeting.

“MSU is doing it right. They are engaging students. They’re listening to them, and they’re talking with them, and so I think that’s why we haven’t seen the same sort of issues on MSU campus that we’ve seen elsewhere,” Bahar-Cook said.

While protests on MSU’s campus have remained mostly without conflict, protestors and police clashed during a protest at Wayne State University and multiple protests at the University of Michigan, with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announcing charges against protestors who were arrested when police cleared out an encampment in Ann Arbor this summer.

“I will say, you know, paramount is student safety and our primary purpose of being is to educate students. And that can’t happen if the students can’t get to class or feel intimidated when they’re there. So, you know, it’s one of those things where we’ve got to keep the dialogue open so that people don’t feel like the only way they can be heard is by breaking the rules,” Bahar-Cook said.

Mike Balow commits to accessibility and restoring trust

Mike Balow is a U.S. Navy veteran and father of an MSU alum who unsuccessfully ran for the Board of Trustees as a Republican in 2022.

Balow told the Advance his platform is one of transparency and restoring trust to the board of trustees.

“Michigan State sells itself. It’s got a beautiful campus. It’s got awesome people, you know, it’s kind of, I say 95/5,” Balow said. “95% good and then 5% are things that are troubling or going wrong. And then the real test of leadership is, what do you do with that 5%?”

“Do you brush it under the rug? You try to hide it? Do you spin it? You lie about it? Or do you acknowledge it and deal with it head on, and develop that trust with people, which has been so very lacking over the last 10 years? And that’s what I hope to establish,” Balow said.

He noted his beliefs that the university should have long-ago released the 6,000 documents which the university refused to release to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for her investigation into Nassar, claiming attorney-client privilege.

He also pointed to the university’s issues with Title IX protections, sparked when the University announced it would eliminate the women’s swim and dive team, citing budget concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On his campaign website, Balow notes his commitment to restoring the women’s swim and dive program and Title IX protections, telling the Advance his daughter was among the 11 plaintiffs who challenged the university’s decision to eliminate the program on the grounds that the university was not providing equal athletic opportunities for women.

The case was ultimately settled in 2023 , with Michigan State Athletics agreeing it would have an independent director conduct a comprehensive gender-equity review, create a gender-equity plan, and bring the department into Title IX compliance by the end of the 2026-27 school year.

Beyond the faults of its leadership, Balow praised the university’s programming and what it provides for Michigan students, noting that the university has significantly more undergraduate students from Michigan than the University of Michigan.

According to reports from both universities, 52% of the U of M undergraduates hail from Michigan while 78.1 % of MSU undergrads are from the state.

“We’re way better in fulfilling our mission of being a public school in the state that we’re in and particularly a land grant school,” Balow said in comparing the universities.

“We do a good job with a lot of our excellent programs, like supply chain, packaging, we have an awesome agricultural and natural resource school. We have a great business school. All of our schools are great,” Balow said, noting that he would like to build relationships with the deans of those schools to build on those programs and advocate for more funding from the Legislature to support the university.

He also said that the bulk of a trustee’s power comes from their relationships and trust, noting his interest in engaging with the the Associated Students of Michigan State University, Faculty Senate, college deans and alumni boards.

“I don’t think that we’re there to run the place; it’s just oversight. But I think by having relationships with key people on campus, like where they can call me and talk about something or, you know, tell me about a problem they’re having… I think that we can be bridges to the outside community to help the schools, the colleges within MSU with their mission and and build it even better than it is,” Balow said.

“In order to like, support the campus, I need to be accessible, and I need to be a good listener and I need to learn from people. I think as simple as that sounds, if I were to adopt that and encourage other trustees to do that — and maybe some of them are, I’m not saying none of them are — but that is a recipe for success, right there,” Balow said.

When asked how MSU can best support freedom of speech and student safety as protests on Israel’s war on Gaza continue, Balow said grace and empathy are key to honoring free speech, but ensuring it doesn’t devolve into hate speech.

“I think as far as having a college campus like, we can’t solve the world’s problems, but we can help make the campus a better, safer place by having free speech and respecting what each other’s viewpoints are. Not allowing hate speech, because I do not think free speech extends to harassment, like racist speech or Islamophobia or antisemitic speech. No, that’s not right. And also, no destruction of property, no interfering with other people’s rights, like going to class and stuff like that,” Balow said.

“I’ll give credit where credit is due, because I think MSU has done better than a lot of colleges when it comes to this, and I give credit to the new president because I think he likes to talk to people and make sure they’re heard.” Balow said.

Thomas Stallworth III offers himself as a stabilizing and unifying voice

Democratic former state Rep. Thomas Stallworth III served in the Legislature from 2011 to 2014, representing Detroit. In addition to his work as a state representative, Stallworth has previously served as a board member for Detroit Public Schools, manager of Detroit Urban League and directed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Coronavirus Racial Disparities Task Force.

Stallworth told the Advance he was encouraged to seek an open board seat by colleagues and fellow MSU alums who felt he could be a positive influence in helping the university and board find stable footing.

When asked how he would address the trust and transparency concerns with the Board of Trustees, Stallworth said he had worked to cultivate a reputation of being direct, open, transparent and ethical.

Additionally, with the Board of Trustees being an unpaid volunteer position, members may not have the experience needed to govern effectively, with the board lacking a stable unifying voice.

“I think I could fill that void. I’m not positioning myself to be a hero of any kind. I’m just saying my focus is always on what’s in the best interest of the students, their families, the staff and the university as an institution, those would be my priorities in that order,” Stallworth said.

Stallworth also pointed to his experience in the Legislature as a potential boon in seeking funding to bring down the cost of tuition and housing. Drawing on his background in the private sector as an executive with a Fortune 500 company, Stallworth said he would look at shaving costs that are unproductive, pointing to the millions of dollars the university has spent on lawsuits and investigations.

“They’re all the result of, in my mind, poor management practices. And to the degree we can establish salvation of professional expectations that everybody is clear about and operates within, then you begin to reduce those liabilities and the associated costs, which then frees up funding for tuition and housing support,” Stallworth said.

He also emphasized the need for the board to support its current president, pointing to the university’s revolving door of leadership, with Guskiewicz being the university’s fifth president since former President Lou Anna Simon resigned following Nassar’s 2018 sentencing .

When asked about freedom of speech and student safety, Stallworth noted his past as a student activist and that he considered himself an activist for much of his professional career.

“Quite frankly, every bit of progress that’s been made in this country has been made based on young people’s activism. So I think we have to — not old people — I think we have to value that contribution to building the kind of society that we want,” Stallworth said.

“Now that being said, I think there’s some values that we should all subscribe to. We can’t support damaging property. We can’t support threats or risks to the safety of other students and staff. But beyond that, yeah, I’m a supporter,” Stallworth said.

He also noted his focus on helping students heal and move forward from the traumas brought by Nassar, the Feb. 13, 2023, mass shooting, and the 2023 firing of head football coach Mel Tucker, whom a university hearing officer found in violation of the school’s sexual misconduct policy following an investigation into accusations of sexual harassment made by sexual assault prevention educator Brenda Tracy.

“These are things that have been a distraction from the university really focusing on its mission. And I want to be a person that respectfully understands the trauma it created for some and be able to support their healing, but while also focusing on how we move forward, making sure the university is safe from those kinds of occurrences in the future,” Stallworth said.

Julie Maday emphasizes passion for people, need for mutual respect

Republican Julie Maday, a member of the Novi Economic Development Corp., describes herself as a “big educational advocate,” having sat on a number of committees within the Novi Community School District as well as serving on the Novi City Council and the city’s planning commission.

Maday first began paying attention to the MSU Board of Trustees during the COVID-19 pandemic when her son was attending as a freshman, telling the Advance she wasn’t happy with how the university implemented online learning as well as its decision to require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The university dropped the requirement in 2023 .

“I can tell you, I was one of the first people in line to get the vaccine, because I have autoimmune issues, and so I obviously have nothing against the vaccine. I just don’t feel as though it should have been mandated,” Maday said.

Maday also expressed frustration with the ouster of Eli Broad College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta, noting both her son and husband were alums of the business school. After meeting her Balow at a meeting and learning about the university’s decision to cut the women’s swim and dive team, Maday said that got her angry and prompted her decision to run for the Board of Trustees.

“I’m just a mom. I’m a mom that has a lot of passion for students, a lot of passion for people. I have probably too much empathy to a fault. I just want to make the university run better,” Maday said.

Noting frustrations from students, alumni and taxpayers with continued lawsuits against the board, as well as her own transparency concerns, Maday committed to an open dialogue with the students about their concerns.

“I think these students in the university do not have — I shouldn’t say they don’t have, but it doesn’t appear that they have a person on that board, or people on that board that they can look to for No. 1, for advice, for support, for help with any issues. I don’t feel like they have anybody to go to,” Maday said.

“I could be wrong, because I’m not privy to everything going on behind closed doors, but that’s just what the sense that I’ve got from talking to students on campus, and I want to help facilitate that,” Maday said.

If elected, the first steps Maday said she would take toward healing the board is working to build respect between all members of the board and ensure its not every member out for themselves.

“I do feel like sometimes this board is so worried about the reputation of Michigan State, rather than actually getting hard answers and hard decisions made. And I think that that’s really key,” Maday said.

“A job of any board, whether it’s a public board or a private board, is to be a check and balance to the administration, or to whatever the business is,” Maday said.

When asked about her biggest concern facing MSU, Maday cited a lack of public trust.

In addition to focusing on transparency and accountability, Maday’s website outlines additional priorities including ensuring affordable tuition and supporting the mental and physical health of students, with Maday telling the Advance she helped to develop the Novi Mental Health Alliance within the Novi Community School District.

Maday has also pledged to support conservative voices on campus, and opposed the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports.

When asked about how the university could support free speech and student safety, Maday noted her staunch belief in the First Amendment.

“I wholeheartedly believe anybody that wants to protest for any reason should have their Constitutional right to do so. I believe that to my core. But if that protest becomes threatening to students on campus, that’s where I draw the line. I mean, you can’t break the law and you can’t threaten students. But to be able to protest, you do what you got to do to make yourself heard,” Maday said.

Third-party candidates for trustee

Alongside the four major-party candidates, Libertarian Grant T. Baker and Green Party candidate John Anthony La Pietra are seeking to fill positions on the board. U.S. Taxpayers Party candidates Janet M. Sanger and John Paul Sanger, who ran for the board in 2018 and 2020, are also on the ballot.

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