No member of the University Board of Regents has been a more outspoken advocate of the controversial plan to add luxury boxes to Michigan Stadium than David Brandon.

Brandon, a former captain of the Michigan football team with close ties to the Athletic Department, was a key member of the board that voted 5 to 3 to add 83 luxury suites and nearly 4,000 premium club seats to Michigan Stadium.

Although Brandon, a Republican from Ann Arbor, lost his seat on the board to Democratic candidate Julia Darlow in last week's election, he will have one more chance to vote on the plan before he leaves his post on Jan. 1.

The lame-duck board is scheduled to vote on the schematic designs for the proposed renovations to Michigan Stadium at its meeting on Friday.

Critics say the board should postpone voting on the plan until after Darlow replaces Brandon.

Regent Larry Deitch, who voted against the plan in May, criticized the administration for bringing the proposal before the lame-duck board.

"I am deeply disappointed by their decision," he said in an e-mail interview. "I believe it is wrong."

University President Mary Sue Coleman decided to ask the regents to approve schematic designs at Friday's meeting after consulting chair Olivia Maynard (D-Goodrich) and vice-chair Martin Taylor (D-Grosse Pointe Farms), University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.

Both Maynard and Taylor voted for the plan when the regents first considered it in May.

Peterson said the administration didn't consider pushing the vote back until Darlow takes office.

Typically, the regents go about their business without regard to personnel matters, she said.

"The board doesn't go on hiatus because one board member is departing and another is joining," Peterson said. "This is the group of board members who know the most about this project, and I think they feel equipped to make this decision on Friday."

The regents vote to move forward on major construction projects every six months or so, making the stadium renovation plan due for a vote, Peterson said.

Even if the regents approve the plan on Friday, one additional vote remains. They will still have to approve detailed architectural plans before construction can begin.

If Darlow, who hasn't yet taken a position on the skyboxes, decides to oppose them, the future of the plan would be uncertain.

The board would be deadlocked 4 to 4 if all the other regents vote as they did in May.

A tied vote would mean the proposal fails.

Darlow said she will attend Friday's meeting as a spectator but isn't ready to make a decision yet.

"I get all these calls from all these people asking speculative questions, but I don't want to speculate on what the regents are doing or going to do," Darlow said.

One person who hopes Darlow decides to oppose luxury boxes is John Pollack, founder of Save the Big House. Save the Big House is a group that is campaigning the Athletic Department's renovation plan.

Pollack critcized the decision to vote on the designs during a lame-duck session.

"I think the defeat of Regent Brandon, who is well known as the leading proponent of luxury boxes on the Board of Regents, offers the University a valuable opportunity to step back from a very divisive decision and take a fresh look at a plan that could bring the Michigan family together rather than drive it apart," he said.

Pollack said voting on the plan during a lame-duck session is just another example of the University's attempt to railroad the plan through the board in spite of public opposition.

In May, when the regents first voted on the Athletic Department's plan to renovate Michigan Stadium, the proposal was added to the agenda after the deadline to register for public comments had passed.

Then, in July, Save the Big House member Bill Wilson was given an incorrect date and time to sign up for public comments at the September regents meeting. By the time Wilson learned the correct date and time, all public speaking slots had been filled. The University made an exception and let him speak at the meeting because of the mistake, but other members of Save the Big House weren't as lucky.

Pollack said the University doesn't respect public input.

"If President Coleman persists in driving through this luxury box plan over public opposition, she is going to be known as the 'luxury box president,' " Pollack said. "That's going to be her legacy, and I don't think that is the legacy she wants."

University Regent Kathy White has also been critical of Coleman's handling of the approval process.

"It was rushed," said White, who voted against the renovations in May. "It wasn't done in public."

She also said May's vote shouldn't have been held at the University's campus in Dearborn.

"It wasn't in Ann Arbor," White said. "It wasn't done where it should have been."