The SVSU Board of Control has approved a $400,000 plan to dramatically expand wireless Internet service on the campus.

“The proliferation of portable computing and communication devices has created a demand by students, staff and visitor for wider wireless Internet access throughout the campus,” reads the resolution, which the board passed unanimously.

The university currently has wireless ‘hotspots’ where students may access the Internet with a wireless device. The new network will be able to be used by students and visitors alike.

David J. Abbs, the board’s chairman, asked SVSU vice president of administration and business affairs James G. Muladore if the new network would be secure. The answer, he was told, was no, due to the numerous groups that use the university for events and conferences.

“It’s past the point to blanket the campus in Wi-Fi,” SVSU president Eric R. Gilbertson told the board.

Kimberly Brandimore, SVSU’s director of Student Life, has abruptly resigned her position, she announced Wednesday in a post on Facebook.

“To all of my SVSU family and friends: It is with a sad heart that I have to tell you that I have resigned my position with Student Life to pursue other goals,” Ms. Brandimore said, also adding that she wanted to spend more time with her son.

SVSU spokesman J.J. Boehm confirmed to The Saginaw Valley Journal that Ms. Brandimore had resigned, but did not offer any details, including the date the resignation is effective. As of Friday, Ms. Brandimore’s name was removed from Student Life’s website. Ms. Brandimore earned a salary of $46,575.10 in 2009.

The search for her replacement will be delayed as administrators work through students events already lined up for the spring.

“As for looking ahead, given that this season is replete with student events, the number one priority is working with current staff to ensure those events run smoothly. As such, no time table for replacement has been decided,” Mr. Boehm said.

Ted Goodman will vie to become the first student since Armen Hratchian in 2004 to serve two consecutive terms as president of Student Association. Mr. Goodman and Justin Kokkinis, a current association representative, will face each other this spring in the student body-wide election, which will be held April 3-6.

“I believe that there is a lot that we can do moving forward. There are a lot of things I ran on last year and I’m willing to come out and say that we haven’t accomplished everything we set out for, so I’m hoping that the students at Saginaw Valley are willing to give me another year to bring forth positive solutions to some of our campus’ most pressing problems,” Mr. Goodman told The Saginaw Valley Journal.

Mr. Goodman eked out a 10-vote victory last year in extraordinary fashion to unseat Julie A. Boon in an election that saw more than 880 votes.

Mr. Kokkinis formally announced his candidacy Monday night toward the end of the association’s regular meeting of members.

“After much thought and consideration, I, Justin Kokkinis announce my candidacy for Student Association president,” he said, standing to address the association.

Mr. Kokkinis is known for his folksy charm and quirky aphorisms. He has spent two years in the association, trying unsuccessfully multiple times to pursue leadership positions, such as speaker and public information officer. He is an avid and vocal supporter of increased transparency in the association and is an editor at The Saginaw Valley Journal.

Student Association parliamentarian Joshua Fleming announced Monday that he would not run for president, shocking many of his supporters and forcing many of the ‘anti-Goodman’ members of the association to choose between supporting Mr. Kokkinis or not voting at all.

“After careful consideration, I have deemed that I do not possess the necessary time and resources to mount a successful bid,” Mr. Fleming said in an e-mail message to multiple, undisclosed recipients.

Student Association representative Jeremy Jones supported Mr. Fleming’s presidential ambitions and said he was disappointed that he won’t run. Mr. Jones said that he will now be supporting Mr. Kokkinis. Mr. Fleming said that he is not publicly supporting any candidate at this time.

Messrs. Goodman and Kokkinis will debate each other on Tuesday, April 3, during the hour before the online election begins. The debate will be held in the Ott Auditorium in the Regional Education Center.

The student election is controlled by a three-member ‘student election commission’. The members of the commission are appointed by Mr. Goodman in his role as the sitting S.A. president. Nic Taylor, SVSU’s associate director of admissions and a former S.A. president himself, serves as chairman of the commission and as a staff liaison. Mr. Goodman’s choices for the election commission, Mr. Taylor said, will need to be approved by him and by SVSU dean of students Merry Jo Brandimore. As of yet, Mr. Goodman had not selected members to serve on the commission.

Messrs. Goodman and Kokkinis have wide latitude to campaign how they see fit. Election guidelines prohibited candidates from campaigning inside campus computer laboratories or from going door-to-door in resident halls. Mr. Taylor said that the election guidelines are put in place to “protect the university” and to “keep the election an orderly affair.”

__________

Comment on this article using Facebook:

Student Association president Ted Goodman has all but publicly confirmed that he is running for reelection this spring, vying to become the first student since Armen Hratchian in 2004 to serve two consecutive terms as president. Mr. Goodman is privately building a campaign organization and gauging support.

Student Association parliamentarian Joshua Fleming has told The Saginaw Valley Journal that he is “seriously mulling over running” for president and that he has already developed a campaign platform. He is expected to make a formal announcement soon. Mr. Fleming, like Mr. Goodman who is heavily involved in G.O.P. politics, has a political background. He interned this past summer in Lansing for State Rep. Charles Brunner, the former Bay City mayor, and he worked on Mr. Brunner’s campaign the previous fall.

Other names being floated around the rumor mill as potential candidates are S.A. representative Megan Potts, S.A. executive assistant Casey Foley, and Living Proud president Amanda Helton. Mr. Foley has told The Saginaw Valley Journal that he is not interested in running. Association speaker Jordan L. Garland is scheduled to graduate soon.

If Mr. Fleming does indeed decide to enter the race, he faces a difficult and serious challenge in trying to unseat Mr. Goodman. Mr. Goodman’s well-organized grass-roots support structure is still firmly in place after last year’s dramatic 10-vote victory over the incumbent S.A. president Julie A. Boon.

As the incumbent this year, Mr. Goodman has several advantages: he may retain the power to select the members of the election commission, the decision-making body when it comes to campaign violations and election procedures. He also has a great deal of name recognition throughout the SVSU campus community, something Mr. Fleming seems to be lacking.

Mr. Goodman’s potential ability to select election commissioners will likely come under fire. Last year, allegations of a potential conflict surfaced after Ms. Boon selected the members of the election commission because the body is charged with ruling on matters involving an election in which she was a candidate. Ironically, however, the commission ruled against Ms. Boon when it asked her campaign to take down at least two posters in the concourse between Brown and Wickes Halls.

Mr. Goodman enjoys a name recognition rate of 85.1 percent, according to an unscientific poll of 60 students, faculty members, and alumni conducted by The Saginaw Valley Journal from Feb. 15-25. The rating must be taken lightly, however, as there were many playful responses submitted, notably from political science professors John L. Kaczysnki and Stewart French, both of whom know Mr. Goodman.

The same poll gives Mr. Goodman an approval rating of 76.1 percent, but displays perhaps his biggest weakness: association support. Of the eight Facebook users voting ‘No’ when it comes to Mr. Goodman’s job performance, five were current members of Student Association, an unusually high number of dissenters when it comes to rating an incumbent S.A. president. Mr. Goodman has irked many current members of the association with his laid-back governing style and frequent absences from association functions. The internal strife, however, will likely not be enough to unseat critical support from outside organizational structures, such as fraternities and resident organizations, for Mr. Goodman.

Mr. Goodman is known to be a charming campaigner, and usually avoids specific issues or topics in exchange for congeniality.

There is still time, however, for a dark horse to emerge in the race.

Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed a 2013 fiscal year budget that has some university officials cautiously optimistic about Michigan’s chances at coming out of a recession and ending the decade-long decline in decreases for higher education funding.

The governor’s proposed budget includes a rare increase in funding for higher education — 3 percent —that is subject to what the Snyder administration is calling “performance metrics”.

The budget includes metrics from four major areas: growth in the number of undergraduate degree completions, the number of undergrad completions in critical skills areas, the number of undergrad Pell Grant recipients, and compliance with tuition restraint.

SVSU officials haven’t yet fully examined Mr. Snyder’s budget proposal.

“We’ve heard that there is increased funding for state universities tied to performance measures, but we have not yet had a chance to analyze the governor’s budget proposal to see what exactly this means for SVSU,” SVSU director of media relations J.J. Boehm told The Saginaw Valley Journal in an e-mail message.

SVSU president Eric R. Gilbertson touched upon the growing trend of relying on performance metrics during his annual state of the university address last month.

“We will be asked about improving graduation rates, about proof that our graduates think and write and reason better because of what we do, about whether the employment market really does value the results of our labor, about how many science and engineering graduates we’ve produced (as though they are the only ones who might be productive), and about whether the university really does contribute to the well-being of the State and the community from which we ask for support,” he said.

Like any university administrator, Mr. Gilbertson expressed dismay when discussing what he referred to as “dashboards”.

“But all of us need to understand that we are under a new level of unsentimental scrutiny; and our performance is, however clumsily and imperfectly, going to be measured,” he said.

Last year, Michigan universities suffered devastating cuts in order to make up for an estimated $1.4 billion budget deficit. SVSU lost nearly $6 million.

Student Association president Ted Goodman is preparing to head to Lansing Wednesday with a small delegation of association members to lobby for student interests and higher education issues. Mr. Goodman spent most of last week on the telephone, calling area state legislators to confirm one-on-one appointments. Mr. Goodman is a former intern in Mr. Snyder’s office.

Student Association filled its two officer vacancies tonight with two newly appointed senior representatives. Joshua Fleming and Julie A. Boon were confirmed as the organization’s parliamentarian and ombudsman, respectively.

Mr. Fleming and Ms. Boon were appointed by association president Ted Goodman and speaker Jordan L. Garland in a move that split the membership of the association in regards to whether or not they were indeed eligible for the vacant positions since they were not members of the association at the time of the resignations of the former officers.

A noticeably befuddled Mr. Goodman tried during the question-and-answer portion of his report to respond to questions about Mr. Fleming’s and Ms. Boon’s eligibility for the posts. Representative Daniel Chapman said that he would be pursuing judicial review of the appointments and at one point threatened to walk out of the meeting with a group of fellow members. Mr. Chapman also serves as editor-in-chief at The Saginaw Valley Journal.

Article I, section 7, subsection 1 of the Student Association charter states, “in the event any officer is unable to fulfill his or her duties, the association shall select one representative from the existing association to assume this office in the same manner as the original selection.”

Mr. Fleming and Ms. Boon were recently appointed to the association after the officer vacancies were created.

The position of parliamentarian also comes with the chairmanship of the legislative and external affairs committee. The position of ombudsman comes with the chairmanship of the student concerns committee.

Ms. Boon is a former association president and parliamentarian. She was a member of the association until she resigned this past fall in order to study abroad in Austria.

“I really want to enact internal leadership development in the association,” Ms. Boon said to the association when describing her goals for the positions of ombudsman.

She also said she wants to reinstate the ‘gripe table’, a tool used to communicate complaints from students to the SVSU administration, and push for more health awareness on campus.

Mr. Fleming formally served a tumultuous tenure as parliamentarian of the association last year in which he declared that ‘amending’ meeting minutes is different than ‘correcting’ meeting minutes. He issued the ruling during a regular meeting in which his friend and fellow member Cassandra Gilkey requested that the association strike controversial comments she made from the record.

Mr. Fleming also ruled that the phrase “the Association may … for the following purposes…” is not ‘limited language’ in regards to section 3.5.1 of the organization’s bylaws, the portion dealing with executive session proceedings.

Heavily involved in Democratic politics, Mr. Fleming spent this past summer in Lansing with an internship with State Representative Charles Brunner and did not return to the association this past fall because of a heavy academic workload, he said. He also said that he wants to see more lobbying from the association to the Michigan Legislature.

“After I graduate I want to immediately go in the Peace Corps. It’s my passion — helping people — I want to work in HIV/AIDS,” Mr. Fleming told the association during his presentation. He also fielded questions about his eligibility and about his previous controversial rulings.

Representative Summer Tanner called Mr. Fleming her “best ever committee chair” and said that he “made her like” the legislative and external affairs committee after she felt apprehensive about her role.

“I believe he has the connections necessary to make lobbying and Lansing interesting to students,” said newly appointed representative Elizabeth Calloway.

Ms. Boon and Mr. Fleming were confirmed 19-5 and 18-6 on secret ballots, respectively.

In his annual formal appearance before the campus community on Thursday, SVSU president Eric R. Gilbertson made the case for SVSU’s worth and value.

“Among other issues, there has been an intensification of the debate over whether what we do is really worth – in purely economic terms – the prices we charge,” he said to a Malcomb Field Theatre packed with mostly senior administration officials and faculty members.

Citing study results, he asserted that higher education is, in fact, worth the costs. He also warned of the tendency to frame higher education’s goals to the public in what he called “lofty quotations”, saying that political realities often mean that the university is judged on ‘dashboards’, or figures that seek to determine how successful university leaders are performing their duties.

“[Thomas] Jefferson’s quote over the entrance to our library, for example, still gives me a warm glow; but I can also tell you that when push comes to shove in a tough, tense, partisan budget battle in Lansing or Washington, no one gets especially misty-eyed about such high-minded rhapsodies,” Mr. Gilbertson said, “Instead, we hear about ‘dashboards’ to measure what we are actually “producing” and other evidences of our contributions to the gross domestic product and to the economic health of our struggling commonwealth.”

65 percent of the tuition collected this year came from students incurring debt — some $55 million, which Mr. Gilbertson said adds to the skepticism over the worth of an SVSU degree.

“One can hardly blame their skepticism. And, as academics who believe in open inquiry and the power of reason, perhaps we should welcome this. Perhaps, too, we are not just utterly predictable but also excessively defensive about these questions,” Mr. Gilbertson said, “Perhaps we have gotten lazy in explaining in ‘evidence-based’ terms what we do and why, relying instead, too heavily and for too long, on what may now be a lost sense of faith in higher education as an unquestionable social and economic good.”

Mr. Gilbertson hinted at the possibility this year of an increase in available funding for higher education, after years and years of significant declines.

“I am confident in the value of this university to the lives of people and the life of our state and region. But all the answers to all the questions won’t all be easy; and in many ways we will need to work harder and do better,” he said.

Facing the prospect of being removed from office, Student Association ombudsman Jasmine Charlton resigned abruptly Monday night after nine fellow members were set to formally charge her with nonfeasance.

“It is with great sorrow and disappointment that I respectfully resign as both ombudsman and representative,” Ms. Charlton said, reading from a prepared statement during her report to the association.

A vote to remove her from office was scheduled for just minutes afterward. There had been speculation throughout the day from association members as to whether she would leave her post or attempt to mount a defense.

The allegations against Ms. Charlton were initiated by Student Association representative Jeremy Jones, who, along with eight other representatives, signed a meaty 16-page document of charges that included multiple citations, letters between Ms. Charlton and Mr. Jones, and photocopies of Ms. Charlton’s performance evaluations.

Ms. Charlton told The Saginaw Valley Journal that she was “bullied to resign” by the group.

“Their allegations are very flawed. I stepped down, because the charges were no longer about what’s best for the students or the association, but rather a way for those that I have hurt to make me feel embarrassed and hurt,” she said.

A number of association members became concerned about Ms. Charlton’s performance after she was hospitalized for an unspecified illness in December. The details of her absence, and of the group’s concerns, became clear Monday after the charges against her were released to the public.

“A few months ago, Ms. Charlton became depressed. Her depression was obvious and apparent from her behavior, which included sudden changes in mood, a sudden lack of motivation, and an apathetic attitude – all of which are behaviors that are detrimental to the association and they are not characteristic of a good leader,” the charges read.

Mr. Jones says that the group tried multiple times to ask Ms. Charlton to resign and that the charges were a matter of last resort.

“Ms. Charlton attempted suicide one evening after leaving the office. That night, Ms. Charlton was involuntarily admitted to the hospital where she remained for several days and she was not permitted to return to campus for even longer,” the charges continued.

Ms. Charlton’s hospital stay and the circumstances surrounding it forced her to neglect her duties as the association’s ombudsman and the chairman of the student concerns committee, the charges say.

“Ms. Charlton’s attitude has caused us and other members of the association to feel uncomfortable around her. Ms. Charlton is suicidal and that causes others around her concern. It puts all members of the association in a precarious situation, as we have to be careful of what we say and do around her as we worry that we might say something that could be the tipping point and may lead to another suicide attempt. Having a suicidal person in a leadership position in the association is a detriment to the very nature of an organization like this.”

In advance of the charges, Ms. Charlton sent a letter to association members last week in an attempt at damage control. In the letter, she addressed her mental illness and said she was enrolled in a program designed to help her.

“I am currently enrolled in a program that is designed to help me deal with issues that I buried or masked. This program is for thirty days and will not in any way affect my duties or role as ombudsman,” she wrote, “In fact, [the] SVSU administration and the program directors have worked diligently to make sure that my SVSU duties, as an employee, student, and ombudsman may continue without interruption while I am enrolled in this program.”

As ombudsman, Ms. Charlton also served as chairman of the student concerns committee. She earned her post last April after barely squeaking by in an election that saw seven members cast votes of ‘no confidence’ in her ability to perform her duties.

Student Association president Ted Goodman and speaker Jordan L. Garland must now go to work to select a successor to Ms. Charlton, as well as Jennora Walker, who recently resigned as parliamentarian. Mr. Goodman and Ms. Garland are opening up the position to all students at SVSU. Per association bylaws, the new officers must be appointed by the group’s next regular meeting.

UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The SVSU men’s basketball team defeated Ferris State University on Saturday, 79-59. The win improves the Cardinals to 5-7 overall and 2-4 in the G.L.I.A.C., while the Bulldogs fall to 8-6 on the season and 5-2 in the conference.

Chris Webb gave the Cardinals an early 9-2 advantage with a three-point basket five minutes into the contest.

The Saginaw Valley lead was 15-9 after a Greg Foster slash to the hoop for two at the 10:58 mark of the first half. Foster finished the evening with 18 points going 7-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from the foul line.

Ferris State knotted up the contest at 19 with 4:29 remaining before the Cardinals closed out the half with a 26-23 edge. Foster would finish the first half with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.

Brett Beland stretched the Cardinal lead to 33-28 at the 16:55 mark of the second half as he connected on three free throws after drawing a foul. Beland would finish the night with 18 points on 2-of-4 shooting from the field including 13-of-15 from the charity stripe.

Mike Schaaf and Webb would connect from beyond the arc on back-to-back possessions to bump the SVSU advantage to 49-41 with 11:35 to go in regulation. Schaaf would end the night with eight points and five rebounds.

The Saginaw Valley lead increased to 62-47 as Eli Redman cut to the hoop for a bucket with 7:30 to go in the contest. Redman finished the game with nine points.

A pair of Webb free throws pushed the SVSU lead to 69-55 with just under four minutes to go.

Webb capped off a 79-59 Cardinal victory with a fast break slam dunk in the final minute to finish with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor.

Saginaw Valley shot 82.4 percent in the second half on 14-of-17 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. SVSU finished the night shooting 55.8 percent.

The Cardinals will return to action on Thursday when they host Northern Michigan University for a 6 p.m. start.

In a special year-end feature, The Saginaw Valley Journal is counting down the top ten SVSU news stories of 2011. Do you agree with us? Logged-in readers can comment below.

10

Board of Control Hikes Tuition 6.9 Percent

JUNE 13, 2011 – SVSU raised tuition for students 6.9 percent today as the Board of Control met formally for its summer session. The move, widely expected, is the result of a tough year in Lansing for higher education as Gov. Rick Snyder works to eliminate a $1.4 billion state budget deficit. In the new state budget, SVSU lost nearly $4 million in state appropriations.

9

SVSU Wins Fourth Straight ‘Battle of the Valleys’

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 – For the fourth straight time — and in what is slowly becoming as certain in autumn as the changing of the colors of the leaves — SVSU beat Grand Valley in the annual ‘Battle of the Valleys’ fund raising competition on Saturday after spending a week coordinating events and raising cash for the Underground Railroad, a safe house in Saginaw County, helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

8

Tempers Flare In Last Student Association Meeting

APRIL 21, 2011 – Student Association sent the 2010-11 academic year out with a bang Monday night with an anger and tirade-filled round-table discussion that left many members visibly upset and some members storming out of the meeting.

7

S.A. Passes ‘Shared Governance’ Resolution

OCTOBER 25, 2011 – Student Association unanimously passed a resolution Monday night asking the SVSU administration to create a committee to increase formal student involvement in creating and modifying university policies.

6

SVSU Beats Ashland On National Stage

OCTOBER 21, 2011 – SVSU’s football team defeated No. 23 Ashland University by the score of 27-6 Thursday night, in what was the CBS Sports Network;s NCAA Division II Football Game of the Week, at Wickes Memorial Stadium on the SVSU campus.

5

‘RFoC’ No More As ‘Marketplace’ Opens

AUGUST 10, 2011 – Real Food on Campus — ‘RFoC’ to most students — will now be known as The Marketplace at Doan at the start of the fall semester. The name change coincides with an expansion and remodeling for the facility conducted during the spring and summer months.

4

Resident Students Criticize New Housing Policies

JANUARY 31, 2011 – The recently announced housing policy changes, such as preferential treatment for incoming second-year students and the elimination of squatting, have numerous resident students voicing their criticisms and opinions to the administration with some asking why students do not have a formal advisory role in crafting policy.

3

S.A. Members Accuse Garland of Misconduct

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 – Student Association speaker Jordan L. Garland had direct knowledge of a calculated attempt to expel Daniel Chapman from the association last Monday and she participated in discussions about how to go about doing so, multiple sources have confirmed to The Saginaw Valley Journal.

2

Resident Alcohol Policy Changed For Students 21+

AUGUST 29, 2011 – Residential Life has changed its alcohol policy for resident students 21-years of age and older. Gregory P. Behe announced the changes to residents via e-mail last Tuesday.

“In order to possess and consume alcohol in university housing, students, 21 years of age or older, must participate in university alcohol education and obtain a valid alcohol permit,” Mr. Behe wrote.

1

Goodman Elected Student Association President

MARCH 31, 2011 – With a positive campaign message and an astonishingly well-organized grassroots effort, Ted Goodman successfully completed what many had labeled an impossible task this week by defeating incumbent Julie A. Boon to become the next president of Student Association.