Voters on Tuesday will have a chance to select two candidates for the University of Michigan Board of Regents to serve eight-year terms. While these are partisan positions on the ballot, we do not see them as partisan posts. Because Michigan no longer offers straight-ticket voting you have to go find the candidates and vote for them specifically.
MGoBlog interviewed the four leading candidates: Democratic challengers Jordan Acker and Paul Brown, and Republican incumbents Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew Richner. While the staff of MGoBlog reserve the right to privately (e.g. on Twitter) share whom we'll vote for, this podcast is not an endorsement of any of these candidates, though in full honestly all four candidates would do a fine job serving the university for the next eight years. Even if you are not a voter in the State of Michigan you might find the podcast interesting since it touches on many important issues currently affecting the university (and doesn't really get into any hot-button political issues outside of that).
The candidates were asked the same set of questions. Their interviews have been edited some to remove flubs or to allow the candidates to gather their thoughts. The topics:
- Why did you become/are you seeking to become a regent?
- Tuition control/The Go Blue Guarantee/Full cost of living
- Student housing (if it wasn't covered above)
- The "Dear Colleague" letter, the recent trial, and shaping Michigan's internal sexual assault policy
- Transparency and institutional integrity in the wake of Larry Nassar
- Ethics and the best way to handle investments
- Change one thing about the University of Michigan (but you can't have money for it)
They are presented in the order they were recorded, as follows:
Paul Brownstarts at 2:08
Jordan Ackerstarts at 20:52
Andrea Fischer Newmanstarts at 54:37
Andrew Richnerstarts at 1:13:32
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Personal Disclosure: Though he was a bit younger than me, I (Seth) know Jordan Acker personally from our youth. To avoid any appearance of favoritism I was not present for Acker's interview and I had nothing to do with its editing (that was David). Also Brian once in the early days of the blog excoriated a Michigan football article that Acker wrote as an undergrad. That is discussed on the podcast.
The Park in the Library Lot is a Stupid Idea, Everybody Says So Disclosure: Brian has a spiel at the start for Ann Arbor residents to Vote No on Ann Arbor Proposal A.
