Bye Bye MSU Dubai
A year and half ago I published an article here at Spartan Nation talking about the Land Grant philosophy and MSU’s responsibility to serve the people of the State of Michigan first. It was in this original article that I talked about the history of the Land Grant charter, what a Land Grant University is supposed to do and most importantly what it shouldn’t be doing. Please CLICK THIS LINK to read the previous Spartan Nation article.
Well, as the saying goes, “the chickens have come to roost.†Michigan State Alumni and more importantly, Michigan taxpayers deserve better. There are so many questions to ask, I am not sure where to start, but I’ll give it my old College of Agriculture and Natural Resources try.
So now that the undergraduate education program at MSU Dubai is ceasing operations. Does this mean we now are now back as a Land Grant or is the university administration going to continue the PR campaign still proclaiming MSU a World Grant? Was money borrowed to fund this multimillion-dollar experiment, who is paying the debt? Is it the Michigan taxpayer? Gosh, I sure hope not.
I have already heard the excuses; we didn’t know the world economy was headed for a downward spiral. It was poor timing. We couldn’t have possibly known this was going to happen. Really, everyone knew the recession was well on its way two years ago when you opened MSU Debacle… err Dubai. I think that more than anything, the elitism and the arrogance finally caught up to the “people†in charge.
Make no mistake about it; the administration really wants this to go away quietly. They hope that with their distortion of the meaning of the words Land Grant, this catastrophe will make its away to the bottom of Lake Michigan where no one will look at it. Nobody will analyze it. Most importantly, nobody will dig into the actual financials to see how much money was wasted on this. I have heard the broad term millions of dollars used to describe the loss. World Grant, who are you kidding?
First, I’d like to clearly illustrate something extremely important. Typically sometimes bad decisions are made that cost money, we all understand that. However, it’s usually something like the football coach gets fired and the contract must be bought out or someone screws up and the university is litigated for something and chances are it’s covered by an insurance policy. However, this is way different. This was a decision made by the administration to take a gamble with other people’s money that nobody would notice.
Even under normal economic circumstances, this should appear on the radar and heads should roll. We are in a massive economic and financial crisis in the State of Michigan, higher education costs are clearly out of control forcing the sons and daughters of Michigan residents to mortgage their futures to even attend. Not only do many feel Michigan State not doing its job as the Land Grant for the state of Michigan, the some with an elitist mentality will tell you that they are doing their best while looking to Dubai to do business.
Kick this number around. THREE-HUNDRED-FIFTY-MILLION DOLLARS. I’ll spell it out another way. $350,000,000. That is the amount of money Michigan State University receives annually from the Michigan taxpayers. Beyond student tuition, beyond federal government grants, beyond football and basketball revenues – each year Michigan State gets a check from the Michigan legislature for $350,000,000. They take hard earned Michigan taxpayer money, deny many Michigan sons and daughters an affordable higher education utilizing elitist standards and in the process, they expand the out-of-state and international student base. This is a losing business model not only for the State of Michigan but also for all Michigan residents.
Each year MSU celebrates how each freshman class has higher and higher ACT scores and they crow about the average incoming GPA is higher than ever. Has anyone recently taken a look at what the average ACT Score is and the average GPA is of Michigan high school students? Because that is exactly the standard of who should be able to attend MSU. That is what “Land Grant†means. But, that is not the case, what is happening now is at the expense of the true Michigander that is supposed to have access to an education at their Land Grant University. What a tragedy. What an embarrassment. The next thing you know we’ll be talking about SUNY MSU or Cal East Lansing.
While MSU has been running around the world trying to compete with the likes of NYU and George Mason in the Middle East, Michiganders have been suffering. MSU, UM and Wayne State graduates are leaving the state in droves. Those three universities receive more Michigan taxpayer dollars than any of the other schools in the state. They are contributing to the Michigan brain drain that is occurring because their focus is not on the State of Michigan. Michigan State’s lack of focus on Michigan residents and the economy (in my opinion) is egregious and probably warrants a lawsuit from the sons and daughters of the State of Michigan. Or, more practicable an investigation by the Attorney General who is busy running for Governor or better yet an investigation by the Michigan Legislature to evaluate and audit of how the $350,000,000 is being spent each year consistent with the Land Grant Mission.
Different from the other two universities I’ve named, MSU has a responsibility first to the students that want to receive an undergraduate education in Agriculture, Natural Resources, Mechanics and all areas that serve the food system. The reason is quite simple. No other university in the state of Michigan has these programs. From what I understand, no other school is allowed to receive federal Land Grant dollars to fund such programs if they wanted to do what MSU won’t.
I am sure some of you are scratching your heads and asking some questions right about now. Doesn’t MSU have agricultural programs in East Lansing? The answer is clearly yes, but believe me they are a shell of what they use to be. MSU has been systematically killing core agricultural programs that traditionally provide repeat generations of leadership within the state’s largest economy.
As MSU tuition skyrockets beyond the rate of inflation and the academic standards go WAY up, Michigan State University is pretty much inaccessible for average Michigan High School students.
For a typical rural Sanilac County farm kid that is saving his summer money from his farm labor that he started when he was 12, it’s not even possible without student loans. It doesn’t matter anyway, he has a GPA of 3.3 and an ACT of around 24 so he won’t be accepted to Michigan State.  His day starts at 5:30 am on the farm before school and ends after he brings in the harvest at 10 PM during a school week in October. He has always wanted to attend MSU like his dad and granddad did, maybe return to his local community as an ag teacher or extension agent, but will be denied access to MSU because his grades and GPA aren’t as ‘sexy’ as someone from New Jersey. John Hannah by the way is probably rolling over in his grave.
Core Land Grant programs have been the victims of consolidation because of lack of demand. This is what some want you to believe. The truth is that those programs do not attract large volumes of Rhodes Scholars, students with trust funds and future attorneys and doctors. When average Michigan kids can’t even get through the first wave of admissions, there is no one waiting in the wings to study traditional forestry, crops and soil sciences, agricultural education and beef management. To most of you, this doesn’t sound like a big deal. I am here to tell you that it is.
Agriculture is Michigan’s largest industry. It represents a huge portion of the tax base in this state and when the economy goes south like it has, it’s the ag industry that greatly helps to stabilize it. It also represents a segment of people who overwhelmingly will stay in Michigan desiring to return to their communities.
I am all for elite, special programs. I am all for research that brings the university money. I am all for bringing in out of state and foreign students to diversify the culture that clearly provides benefits both to us and them. However, this cannot happen at the expense of our own students and our own state and currently it is. Your son or daughter should be able to attend MSU with reasonably good grades and a decent ACT score because remember it’s a Land Grant and your tax dollars pay for it.
Who exactly is going to bail out this administration from their MSU Dubai Debacle? It is a big election year in Michigan and as a taxpayer and as a voter you must ask these questions to the candidates. Find out which candidates understand Land Grant mission and are willing to take action to defend it. The MSU administration needs to be sent a strong message. Let them know a huge mistake was made and it needs to be corrected. Demand accountability for our Land Grant Charter.
