State Relations Officers
The MASU State Relations Committee is the most active among the association’s committees. Meeting bi-weekly when the Michigan Legislature is in session, the State Relations Officers (SROs) anticipate, execute and respond to an ever-evolving state budgetary and policy landscape. The SRO Committee provides acute attention to matters involving state higher education funding and fiscal policy, especially involving state university operating support, student financial aid, and campus capital outlay (building construction and renovation). The SROs analyze and communicate their institutions’ positions on dozens of bills introduced each year that affect the state universities and the students they serve; doing so individually and collectively in partnership with MASU staff. As the most ever-present state university advocates in Lansing, the SROs work with legislators and other state government leaders to promote policies and funding priorities that enable the universities to meet state needs and goals. Committee members also work with MASU to communicate with selected members of Congress regarding higher education matters, especially those pertaining to federal student financial aid.
As with all MASU committees, during their convenings, members of the SRO Committee provide insight on the implications of current state and federal policy issues and fiscal dynamics affecting the state’s public universities. Contemporary higher education issues and trends are examined through the lens of state relations officers, with strategic consideration given to such factors as college access and affordability, academic quality, institutional accountability, higher education and the public good, and public-private partnerships.