Midterm elections are approaching in the state of Michigan. While some statewide races, like for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, have garnered national attention, others have comparatively slid under the radar.
In an unusual quirk of electoral politics, voters in Michigan are able to vote for the governing boards of major public universities in statewide elections. Members of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, Michigan State University Board of Trustees, and the Wayne State University Board of Governors serve uncompensated for eight-year terms, and are elected two at a time in staggered, two-year cycles.
As part of a series of candidate profiles for the state’s three publicly elected university boards, Michigan Public sat down with the Democratic and Republican candidates for Wayne State’s Board of Governors to discuss their campaigns, platforms, and hopes for the future of the university.
The Democratic Party’s nominees for the board are Richard Mack and Shereef Akeel. Mack is a union-side labor attorney and a member of the Detroit NAACP’s Board of Directors. Akeel is a civil rights attorney at his own law firm, and a certified public accountant.
The Republican Party’s nominees for the board are Christa Murphy and Andy Anuzis. Murphy is a member of the board of directors of Vibe Credit Union, and said she's previously worked in strategy roles at Samsung, Meta, and General Motors. Anuzis’s background is in public education; he has spent the last five years as the principal of Lincoln-King High School in Detroit.
The candidates from each party are not running as a ticket in the traditional sense. Voters can select up to two candidates for governor, but may also vote for fewer, and are able to vote for two candidates from different political parties if they wish.
Affordability and upward mobility
Wayne State has frequently been ranked as the top university in the state for social mobility, and ensuring that its programs remain affordable is a top concern for all candidates.
The Democratic contenders said they were proud of Wayne State’s various financial aid programs, and would work to continuously improve them to better assist various underserved groups if elected.
“Wayne State has people who are working full time, who are mothers and fathers and people who are trying to get a leg up in life,” Mack said. “And we, as Wayne State, need to make sure that, yes, we're offering an amazing, amazing education. We also need to make sure that the students there are assisted with the academics and other resources that they may need.”
The Republican candidates also expressed support for the university’s tuition programs; Murphy said she even benefitted from financial aid during her time as a Wayne State undergraduate. The pair also wants to focus on fiscal accountability and looking for wasteful spending to cut.
“One of the things that I bring to the table in terms of previous board service is the tough decision making,” Murphy said. “Every institution has limited resources. We look at the resources. We look at the outcome that we're looking to drive.”
Academic success
Closely tied to the subject of financial aid is the academic success of Wayne State students. The university’s six-year graduation rate has rapidly improved over the last decade and a half, going from 26% in 2011 to around 60% today.
“What often happens now (is) students who just aren't able to finish because they are $1,500 short, or they didn't get their Pell Grant, or they didn't get the full amount of the grant that they thought they were going to get. All sorts of life issues come into play,” Mack said.
The Republican candidates do not disagree with this perspective. “Investing in mentorship, scholarships and those kinds of things are very important,” Anuzis said. As an educator he also hopes to take a look at several of Wayne State’s academic programs that he thinks “could be models that should be amplified.”
Anuzis is particularly fond of Math Corps, an academic mentoring program for students in Detroit Public Schools run by Wayne State. He said the program benefits the local community and helps prepare students for college.
“College success starts with middle school success, high school success,” Anuzis said. “And I'd love to see Wayne State do more of what Math Corps does.”
The Democratic candidates are also looking for ways to enhance Wayne State’s impact across Michigan and the Detroit metro area, particularly when it comes to healthcare.
“There's a lot of underserved areas, specifically regarding medical treatment,” Akeel said. “So I think exploring that and trying to expand on an outreach program to provide medical service using Wayne State's wonderful medical university to help the underserved areas, provide medical treatment, I think that would be good.”
Free speech and civil rights
The Republican candidates have made a point of campaigning on the issue of defending free speech, which they believe is not sufficiently respected around campus.
“I've talked to several students at Wayne State University recently,” Anuzis said. “I wouldn't say that it is like open censorship, but there's a soft censorship. People don't feel free to speak their mind in the classroom. And we need to fix that.”
While Anuzis and Murphy believe Wayne State could improve its free speech record, they are not particularly sympathetic to student protesters. The pair believes that demonstrations should not take place if they disrupt students’ academic health, an issue Murphy said she had personal experience with during her time at the university.
“I remember a particular moment sitting in differential equations class at Wayne State University, and there was a protest going on outside the window,” Murphy said. “And I remember thinking, it's not that I disagree with you, but can you please be quiet?”
The Democratic candidates are also concerned about the state of free speech and other rights on campus, though they believe the threat mostly originates from the Trump administration. They believe that as lawyers they will be able to help defend Wayne State from any legal threats it may face from the federal government.
“They say lawyers are the foot soldiers of the Constitution, and we're going to be there to make sure that every student has their proper due process and has their rights respected,” Akeel said. “And that's not just for students, it's for faculty, for union workers.”
Institutional stability
Wayne State has experienced significantly less administrative turmoil than U of M or MSU have over the last several years, though it has not been entirely calm either. The university’s current president, Richard Bierschbach, was only recently appointed to the position after the resignation of former President Kimberly Espy resigned last year following strife with campus protesters and leadership turnover at the university’s medical school.
All candidates said they were excited about Bierschbach’s presidency, and would work to keep the board’s meetings productive. The Democratic candidates both emphasized fostering a culture of mutual respect and compromise.
“The way that we relate to folk on the board has got to be on a position of respect and a position of going through ideas, but also making sure you understand why the ideas are held,” Mack said. “One of the things that I really pride myself on as a union negotiator is a pragmatic approach.”
The Republican candidates echoed this sentiment. Anuzis further suggested delegating as much of Wayne State’s day-to-day operations to relevant experts at the university.
“Our job is not to micromanage,” Anuzis said. “It's not to create programs. It's not to show up on day one with the 10-point plan swinging in the wind, saying, look, I've got all this figured out. I think our job is to be prudent managers of the resources of the university.”
