Stem cell, health insurance stances may cost U-M, MSU state aid

Republican members of the Michigan House higher education committee flexed their muscles Friday, passing a budget recommendation that would strip state aid from Michigans two most prominent universities over disagreements on stem cell research and mandatory student health insurance.

The Republicans have been feuding with both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University in the past year over the two social issues and has threatened to pull state aid over it.

But neither MSU or U-M blinked at the move.

We believe there are elements in this proposal that are intended to be punitive in nature and that it would force us to raise tuition more than anticipated, said Heather Swain, MSUs vice president for university relations.

This budget recommendation, which would still have to be passed by the full committee, the full House, the Senate and eventually signed by the governor, would make good on the previous threats.

At risk is U-Ms and MSUs share of nearly $40 million in performance funding, which, under the House plan, would be doled out to those universities meeting a number of criteria.

We are, of course, disappointed that the House higher-education budget proposal restricts funding for U-M over the way the university reported its stem cell research, said U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald in a written statement. The university provided a detailed report on the breadth and depth of this critical research being done on our campus. But in the weeks and months ahead well be focused on getting the best possible outcome for the University of Michigan.

The GOP legislators are mad at MSU because of a provision passed this year that mandates all incoming students have health insurance. If students dont certify with the university they have health insurance, they are automatically enrolled in a university-picked plan and the cost added to a students bill.

The same legislators are upset with U-M over reporting on stem cells. In this years state aid budget, legislators mandated that universities report on several aspects of universities embroyonic stem cell research. The only university that would have had to report that this school year would have been U-M.

U-M sent in what legislators called more than 50 pages of news releases about its stem cell research. Legislators said the numbers they wanted werent included. That led to a testy exchange earlier this month between GOP lawmakers and U-M President Mary Sue Coleman.

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Stem cell, health insurance stances may cost U-M, MSU state aid