Attendance varies for MSU trustees

On a Friday morning each month, MSU Board of Trustees member Donald Nugent wakes up early and spends three hours driving to MSU from his home in Frankfurt for a meeting. And despite the lengthy drive, Nugent has only missed one board meeting since 2001.

Scott Romney

“That’s the real challenge there, and those are the decisions we have to make as we accept the obligation of serving on the board and the responsibilities that go along with that,” he said.

“It is a challenge, particularly when you live three hours away from the university. Anytime I go for a meeting, it’s going to take me a day.”

Part of being elected to MSU’s Board of Trustees is attending the monthly meetings that occur Friday mornings at the Administration Building. At these meetings, the board approves policies and proposals relating to all facets of the university and its multibillion-dollar budget. Although a majority of the eight members must be present to approve decisions, there is no attendance policy.

Because of that, not all trustees are always present at the meetings. All eight board members are forced to balance personal and professional obligations with their responsibilities on the board.

Nugent, who has attended 77 of the 78 meetings since 2001 either by phone or in person, said the meetings are an important responsibility of board members.

“The Friday meeting is the open meeting and that’s when the decisions get made,” he said. “That’s a critical time. When you get to a board meeting, you better be prepared and had time to have gotten yourself prepared for the meeting and the decisions that need to be made at that meeting.”

Although trustees agree attending the meetings is important, Trustee G. Scott Romney said it’s often difficult to manage outside obligations with responsibilities to the board. Since 2001, Romney has attended 51 meetings in person, 10 via phone and missed 17 meetings altogether.

“It’s tough sometimes,” he said. “There have been a few times that I’ve missed, but I’ve tried to be very careful when I miss, to be up on the issues and talk to people about them beforehand so that I can get my input involved.”

Romney, a Detroit-based attorney, is the only current member of the board up for re-election this November. As a Republican, he faces one other Republican, two Democrats and five other candidates.

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said the board meetings are more effective when all trustees are present.

“Everybody has their own contribution and unique perspective, so all of those are valued,” she said. “The thing you try to solve is just really good communication patterns so people feel that they have the information to make decisions.”

Trustee George Perles said other discussions about board items are important, but don’t replace the formal meeting on Fridays. Perles, who was elected in 2006, hasn’t missed any of the 16 meetings that have been held during his time on the board.

“Without (going to the meeting) you don’t know what’s going on, you don’t have your opinion and you’re not representing the people that voted you in,” he said. “Anything working with the board, I’m available anytime, any place that they need.”

Trustee Colleen McNamara, who has missed seven meetings since 2001, said an absence at the meeting also can affect her at later meetings.

“The meetings afterwards when people are making references to what went on at the last meeting, I feel really out of it,” she said.

Although Romney said missing meetings is not ideal, he said he sometimes attends work sessions during the week leading up to a meeting he knows he’s going to miss.

“There have been several times when I’ve missed a public meeting but I have been at the discussion meeting before,” he said. “There’s a lot of the discussion and analysis that goes on and then you can give your input to the other board members before the meeting.”

Work sessions are often conducted during the week leading up to a Friday meeting. Although agenda topics can be discussed, no decisions are made or voted on until the public meeting. These informal discussions regarding the board’s actions are not open to the public.

Celeste Roosien, a psychology junior, said the trustees should attend meetings as part of their responsibility to the board and the university.

“Absolutely, it’s their responsibility,” she said. “We voted them in for a reason and if they didn’t want to a part of it and if they didn’t want to go to the meetings, why would they run? It’s their biggest responsibility.”

McNamara said, although every trustee has outside obligations and sometimes missing a meeting is unavoidable, the responsibility of being an elected official is the most important part of being on the board.

“We represent the people who own the university,” she said. “Those are the people of Michigan, the taxpayers and the citizens who own Michigan State. They elect eight of us to look out for their interests at Michigan State. It’s a tremendous responsibility to know what’s going on and be up to speed so we can think and talk credibility about issues that affect the well-being of their investment — the university.”