In its first meeting of the semester, the Michigan Student Assembly passed a resolution supporting the repeal of the tuition tax credit in less than five minutes.
- Paul Wong
- Members of the Michigan Student Assembly meet last night in their first meeting of the semester to discuss a resolution supporting a repeal of the tuition tax credit<br><br>DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
If the state Legislature votes to repeal the 6-year-old tax credit, universities will likely reduce their tuition for the current academic year.
“I”d like to see money back in the students” pockets,” said LSA Rep. Reza Breakstone. “This is a project we need to succeed, not just to be worked on.”
MSA President Matt Nolan said assembly members will be sending out letters to every state representative and senator today urging them to repeal the tax credit.
An e-mail explaining how to contact and put pressure on state representatives will be sent to every student, Nolan said.
“Next Tuesday, we plan to send students to Lansing to lobby the repeal,” Nolan said.
He said the increase in the University”s allocation from the state had been around 5 percent in recent years and last year the increase was only 1.5 percent.
“That”s why we want to release some more money into higher education,” Nolan said.
Earlier in the meeting, MSA passed a resolution to support National Take Back Affirmative Action Day next month.
The United States Student Association has declared October 30, 2001, National Take Back Affirmative Action Day. On this day, college campuses across the country will rally in support of affirmative action.
“A variety of campuses across the country are having other trials around this time this will be a good day to show we are in support of affirmative action,” said Monique Luse, chair of MSA”s Minority Affairs Commission.
The rally is not going to take place during the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals hearing for the University of Michigan admissions lawsuits because “people will want to be in Cincinnati on that day,” Luse said.
“This affects students of color, and we want to make affirmative action a student issue, so this event really makes sense,” Luse said.