By: Caitlin Schneider
Daily Staff Reporter
Published November 3rd, 2008
Two Democrats were elected to the eight-member University of Michigan Board of Regents last night, maintaining the board's current partisan balance.
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Incumbent Larry Deitch (D–Bingham Farms) was elected to his third term as regent and Detroit businesswoman Denise Ilitch (D–Bingham Farms) was elected to her first term. It was her second campaign for a spot on the board.
Nine candidates vied to fill two open seats on the board. The other candidates were Republicans Susan Brown and John LaFond, Green Party candidate Ellis Boal, Libertarians Eric Larson and Kerry Morgan and U.S. Taxpayers Party candidates Richard Ryskamp and Joe Sanger. Incumbent Democrat Rebecca McGowan (D–Ann Arbor) did not run for re-election.
After yesterday's election, the political makeup of the University's main governing body remains the same, with six Democrats and two Republicans.
Throughout the campaign season, financial concerns dominated the regental candidates' rhetoric. Most vowed to combat annual increases to tuition costs and offered plans to increase University revenue.
The hopefuls offered similar stances on most of the University's pressing political issues. With the exception of LaFond, all major party candidates said they backed Proposal 2, which passed yesterday and loosened the state's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
Deitch, a corporate attorney at Bodman LLP in Detroit, has been a regent for 16 years. He has said maintaining the caliber of the University is a top priority as a means of strengthening Michigan’s overall economy. During his time as a regent, Deitch has garnered attention for his stance against the Michigan Stadium expansion and involvement in adding sexual orientation to the University’s nondiscrimination statement.
Ilitch is an entrepreneur and lawyer, familiar to many because of her family’s prominence in Detroit. The Ilitch family owns Little Caesars Pizza, the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings, and Ilitch served as president of the company for a time. Ilitch said she will be focused as regent on keeping University education affordable and using her business experience to find new revenue streams.
Regents serve eight-year terms and are not bound by term limits.
