EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Democrats on the MSU Board of Trustees had come up with a resolution called “Accountability of University Vendors Funding Voter Suppression.” The issues in the
resolution were raised in a June board meeting when the Defend Black Voters Coalition (DBV) called out university vendors Delta Dental of Michigan and BCBS of Michigan because of their political contributions.

The MSU resolution asks their vendors and contractors to oppose the Secure MI Vote initiative, to change their political donations and to lobby legislators so that their ideological views and actions better align with the Democrat Board of Trustee members.

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Democrat trustees Rema Vassar and Kelly Tebay initiated the bill for their 5-3 Democrat majority board because they are in opposition to the Secure MI Vote initiative which would require mandatory ID for in-person and absentee voting, disallow election funding by private groups and and not allowing mass mailings of absentee ballot applications.

They call these measures “voter suppression” and Democratic trustee Brianna Scott said that it is “right for us to discourage people from purposely doing anything to impede the ability of black and brown voters to vote…”

The vote on the resolution was supposed to happen on Friday, September 9th but it was pulled off the agenda, possibly because they realized that it could affect the funding of the university.

Michigan Senate Majority leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) was one of the politicians who received contributions from Delta Dental and BCBC of Michigan. Shirkey, a supporter of Secure MI Vote, discussed the MSU resolution with Detroit News and said, “I will not let this stand. This will cause us to immediately reevaluate the legitimacy of
this university and its board of trustees. We are not going to take this lying down. The budget is an impactful process. This is why public universities should be defunded.”

MSU received $357.9 million in direct appropriations from taxpayers in the current fiscal year ($90 per household).
The MSU resolution proclaims that they hold a “strong commitment to promoting social justice and ending systemic racism both in our community and at the University” and have created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee in order to create a “culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion for the MSU community…”

They argue that the “voter suppression bill” could “soon empower the legislature to pass the same measures without the ability for the Governor to veto” and say that some contributions to elected officials are supporting voter suppression.

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Their resolution announces, “The MSU board calls on the entire campus community to support MSUvote by formally joining the coalition to ensure representation and demonstrate commitment to the mission of the organization.”

And at the end of the resolution, they ask for the oppression of free speech rights from their vendors and contractors by saying, “The MSU board will ask all politically active vendors to take concrete steps to defeat the efforts to undermine our democracy, including reaching out to lawmakers with which they have relationships with to
communicate the importance of opposing voter suppression legislation, and ultimately to align their political support (including financial contributions) of candidates and office holders with their professed values, providing that those values support free and fair access to the democratic process.”

In November’s election, there will be a vote to elect two MSU Board of Trustees because the terms of Republican Melanie Foster and Democrat Renee Knake Jefferson expire January 1, 2023. Foster will not be running for re-election. The Democrats running for the two seats are Renee Knake Jefferson (incumbent) and Dennis Denno.
The Republicans running are Mike Balow and Travis Menge.