A sea of maize flooded the Rogel Ballroom in the Michigan Union yesterday when more than 200 students stood in support of tuition equality at the University’s Board of Regents meeting.

Tuition equality would ensure that undocumented students who have resided in Michigan would pay in-state tuition rates.

Public Policy junior Kevin Mersol-Barg, founder of the Coalition for Tuition Equality, said he was happy to see the number of students at the meeting.

“I think it went very well,” Mersol-Barg said. “I believe that we demonstrated, along with many other organizations, that students care about diversity and very much so about making sure this campus is accessible to undocumented students in particular.”

The group, which titled the event #regentswalkout, addressed the Regents at the end of the meeting during the comments portion, which allows anyone wishing to address the Regents five minutes to present their topic, as long as they give their name and topic ahead of time.

This was the third time the group attended the Regents meeting, after initially addressing the Regents in February. However, in February less students went to the meeting and the signs they brought were smaller.

The first speaker to address the Regents was LSA senior Ellen Steele, who is the out-going chair of the undergraduate American Civil Liberties Union of the University’s chapter.

In Steele’s speech she asked the Regents to consider the academic effects of charging undocumented students out-of-state tuition.

“This is your chance to make a change,” Steele said. “By charging undocumented students out-of-state tuition we are denying them access to a better future.”

Rackham student Marisol Ramos and LSA juniors Cathy Cao and Ariam Abraham also addressed the Regents about their personal reasons for supporting tuition equality and increasing minority enrollment.

“I understand that sometimes the right thing to do is not easy, but I challenge you all to do the right thing for our students, our University and society at large,” Ramos said.

Social Work student Martha Valadez was originally slated as the first speaker for the group but stepped out and missed her turn. She was not allowed to speak after Steele causing students to yell, “You’re not going to let her speak?”

Valadez delivered her planned speech after the rest of the speakers had finished and the meeting was adjourned. While some of the Regents and Executive Officers, including University President Mary Sue Coleman, left as soon as the meeting was officially over, others stayed to hear Valadez’s speech including E. Royster Harper, the University’s vice president for student affairs and Timothy Slottow, the University’s vice president and chief financial officer.

“Obviously it didn’t go as planned but I was really happy that Martha was able to speak at the end of the meeting,” Steele said.

The ballroom was quiet during all of the speakers’ speeches but at the end of each speaker’s alloted five minutes the crowd of students cheered in support. The speakers planned to walk out after the final speaker, but because Valadez spoke after the meeting was over, the walkout did not happen.

At last month’s Regents meeting, Regent Julia Darlow (D–Ann Arbor) asked University Provost Philip Hanlon to compile a report detailing what a possible plan could be for tuition equality. At yesterday’s meeting Hanlon spoke to the board and the students in the crowd about his findings before the public comments section took place.

“It’s an issue that we care deeply about,” Hanlon said.