Six candidates running for the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents in the fall election fielded questions yesterday from faculty members at a forum held at Palmer Commons.

The candidates included Democrat Laurence Deitch, a current Regent seeking his third term in office; Democrat Denise Ilitch; Republicans Susan Brown and John LaFond; Green Party candidate Ellis Boal and Libertarian Party candidate Eric Larson. There are two openings on the Board of Regents in the upcoming election.

The candidates began the forum by giving short opening statements explaining why they should become regents.

Not surprisingly, financial issues like limiting tuition increases figured heavily in the opening statements.

LaFond, who served as an executive at Ford Motor Company for 34 years, said changes to the University’s leadership style will be need to help contain the costs of attending the University.

“I think the most important issue that confronts us is to raise the level of bold and decisive leadership,” he said. “University leaders, including the regents, I believe, must develop more productive ideas that will create a quality educational experience as well at an affordable cost.”

Deitch, a corporate lawyer at the firm Bodman LLP in Detroit, said keeping student costs low while juggling the University’s increasingly limited resources would be the most challenging aspect of his job if elected to a third term.

He said the key is to figure out how to grow the University’s existing resources, like its $7.6 billion endowment, and also keep the University’s programs accessible to qualified students from modest backgrounds.

“The old saying that came from the 19th century was that (the University of) Michigan provides an uncommon education for the common man,” he said. “I believe in that as a principle.”

Susan Brown, a former member of the Board of Trustees at private Kalamazoo College, expressed support for University President Mary Sue Coleman’s aggressive fundraising campaigns.

If elected as a Regent, Brown said she too would use fundraising campaigns to limit increases in University costs for students.

Libertarian Eric Larson, a physician in Grand Rapids, said the University should save money by outsourcing some jobs not related to academics.

He suggested hiring private companies to handle the University’s groundskeeping and janitorial services. He also said the University should consider implementing more online courses to save money.

“I think the University of Michigan has an opportunity to consider providing online University classes developed by the faculty and taught by the faculty,” Larson said. “It’s a low cost way of providing educational opportunities for people who are unable to attend the University of Michigan.”

Later in the forum, a faculty member’s question for the candidates asked them how they would approach the issue of diversity at the University and whether they would support outreach efforts to ensure that students from underrepresented backgrounds attend the University.

Boal, who in the 1970s as an activist fought for affirmative action at the University, was unequivocal in his support for student diversity programs.

“I don’t think there’s any question whether I would continue those policies today,” Boal said.

Ilitch said she supported the outreach programs the University has implemented since the passage of Proposal 2 in 2006 which banned race-based affirmative action.

She said she would back any new initiatives or programs that would create a more diverse student population on campus.

Deitch, who said one of his proudest days was watching the University’s affirmative action case argued before the U.S.