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The University of Michigan Board of Regents met Thursday afternoon in the Alexander G. Ruthven building to approve the 2024-25 University budget; discuss budgeting for Michigan Medicine, the athletic department and the U-M Flint and Dearborn campuses; and hear public commentary regarding Michigan Medicine workers and the University’s use of police force in response to student protests against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
University President Santa Ono opened the meeting by highlighting many of the University’s achievements over the course of the past year, including the expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee, which will provide 1,554 students with free tuition this year. President Ono, Regent Denise Ilitch (D) and Regent Mark Bernstein (D) all expressed their appreciation for Regent Hubbard’s (R) leadership in her tenure as chair of the board over the past year.
University Provost Laurie McCauley presented the University’s proposed 2025 fiscal year general fund budget at the start of the meeting. McCauley said the budget would address each of the University’s Vision 2034 plan’s impact areas: Life-Changing Education; Human Health and Well-Being; Democracy, Civic and Global Engagement; and Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Justice.
“The Fiscal Year ’25 budget takes bold steps toward our vision while maintaining fiscal discipline, responsible stewardship of our resources and our commitments to excellence, access and affordability,” McCauley said.
McCauley then presented the proposed tuition rates for the 2024-25 academic year. Tuition will increase by 2.9% for in-state undergraduates, which McCauley noted is below the current rate of inflation, and by 4.9% for out-of-state undergraduates. The budget also proposes a 4.9% tuition increase for graduate programs, a 3.9% increase for the University Health Service fee and a 6% increase for housing rates to fund future housing expansions.
Despite the proposed tuition rate increases, McCauley said many students will still receive various forms of financial aid from the University.
“I want to take this opportunity to outline what our sustained attention to affordability and investments in financial aid have attained,” McCauley said. “63% of our resident undergraduates do not pay the sticker price. Their cost to attend the University of Michigan is less, thanks to grants and scholarships. 31% of our undergraduates pay no tuition at all, and the average cost for a family with an income of $120,000 or less is lower than it was a decade ago, after adjusting for inflation.”
The budget includes a 6.3% increase to the central undergraduate budget to continue offsetting the cost of tuition for students receiving need-based aid. The budget will also fund $390 million in financial aid, including $30 million in cost containment.
U-M Flint Interim Chancellor Donna Fry and U-M Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso each introduced proposed tuition rate increases for their respective campuses. U-M Flint requested a 4.9% increase in undergraduate tuition rates and U-M Dearborn’s budget includes a 4.7% increase for in-state and a 4.9% increase for graduate students.
The 2025 fiscal year budget was approved in a 7 to 1 vote. Regent Bernstein voted against the proposed budget, criticizing the University’s response to alleged instances of antisemitism on campus. Bernstein cited an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, wherein the department’s Office of Civil Rights investigated 75 cases of alleged harassment or discrimination towards students based on Jewish, Muslim or Palestinian ancestry at the University. The investigation found that the University failed to address the issues as required by Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race and country of origin in institutions receiving federal financial funding.
Bernstein said he would vote against the budget due to his concerns with the University’s ability to address these alleged cases of antisemitism.
“Our many failures during the past academic year have reduced my confidence in our ability to fight the dangerous, deeply rooted culture of antisemitism on our campus going forward,” Bernstein said. “The toxic presence of antisemitism and all forms of bigotry threatens the viability of this institution and causes profound damage to our society.”
Regent Jordan Acker (D) provided further commentary on the budget, agreeing with Regent Bernstein on the gravity of the alleged instances of antisemitism on campus. However, Acker said he would vote to approve the budget because doing so supports important educational opportunities.
“I want to remind everyone that this campus has been a haven from the antisemitism of the Ivy League for nearly 100 years, and we have to move back to being that place,” Acker said. “Let me make this clear: I’m voting for this budget because to do otherwise would be to not give Michigan students the Go Blue Guarantee, the ability of middle-class Michiganders to go to school tuition-free.”
Regent Paul Brown (D) said the University administration must address the issue raised by the Department of Education’s report, but the budget itself was a separate issue and one he would approve.
“The Department of Education report is damning and we must do better,” Brown said. “I feel it has this tangential, at best, connection to the budget. This is a great budget, and I will vote for it because it is so and because we’ve gotten assurances from the administration that they will do better on those issues cited in the report and by my colleague Regent Bernstein.”
President Ono acknowledged Regents Bernstein, Acker and Brown’s comments and affirmed his commitment to addressing all alleged instances of identity-based harassment on campus. Ono said he will continue his support for facilitating and maintaining open conversations about Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
“As the University of Michigan’s president, I’m steadfast in my commitment to making our university the premier institution, not only for higher learning research but one that values diversity of thought and provides our students and every member of the community a forum to challenge one another (and create) an open dialogue,” Ono said.
The meeting then continued with a presentation of Michigan Medicine’s 2025 fiscal year budget by David Miller, president of the University Health System. Miller outlined aspects of the budget, which predicts increases in operating revenue and operating expenses for 2025.
Elias Atkinson, Central Student Government vice president, provided the first Student Government Report of his term, criticizing Ono and the Regents for the removal of the U-M Gaza solidarity encampment last month by University law enforcement.
“Your willingness to deploy violence makes you all a danger to the campus community,” Atkinson said. “You’ve created a climate of fear to silence activism for Palestinian human rights.”
Acker and Bernstein questioned Atkinson about the SHUT IT DOWN party’s intention not to pass a budget, fund student and community organizations or continue previous CSG initiatives during the 2024-2025 school year. In response, Atkinson said the party had already clearly laid out its plans from the beginning.
“We’ve been extremely clear about what we plan to do and what not to do from the inception of our campaign,” Atkinson said.
Regent Bernstein criticized Chowdury and Atkinson for not engaging with the Regents as past CSG representatives.
“We have engaged in countless hours of dialogue across these differences as we have watched the tragic and heartbreaking loss of innocent life in Israel and in Gaza,” Bernstein said. “And these conversations are challenging and they’re urgently needed, as we all know, and I’ve learned and grown from this dialogue. As painful as this moment is, these interactions have been informed by facts and grounded in a shared sense of respect and compassion. And your rhetoric today is in stark contrast to this type of constructive and active approach …That is why they are unworthy of substantive engagement and demand strident, unequivocal condemnations.”
After the board approved each item on the consent agenda, the public comment section of the meeting was opened.
Ada Williams, a Michigan Medicine Patient Services Intermediate, spoke in support of the Service Employees International Union Michigan Healthcare Union’s interests. She advocated for an increased minimum wage and a wage scale that rewards long-term service, on-call pay and other benefits.
“We propose the minimum pay should be no less than $20 per hour,” Williams said. “After 31 years, my pay is only $24.73 per hour. We need a wage scale that rewards long-term service to the University. When we worked through the pandemic, our reward was the University froze the retirement contribution for six months.”
Rackham student Nia Hall denounced the University for its practices during the removal of the U-M Gaza solidarity encampment and for its response to student protests advocating for divestment.
“You’ve made it abundantly clear that you have chosen to side with the force committing genocide rather than support your own students with the moral clarity and ethics to demand justice and divestment,” Hall said.
Lorrie Carbone, senior social worker with Michigan Medicine, said she was concerned about how the increasing workload of social workers and other healthcare providers is impacting the quality and depth of their care.
“Each person has their own story,” Carbone said. “The unique role of social workers is that they enhance well-being by helping patients cope emotionally with changes in health and functioning, provide health education and connect them to helpful resources. Unfortunately, healthcare billing still prioritizes medical services and the number of services provided over effective patient care.”
The meeting also saw Regent White’s approval as the next chair of the board and Regent Bernstein’s confirmation as vice chair. Regents White and Bernstein will begin in their new roles on July 1.
Summer News Editor Bronwyn Johnston can be reached at jbronwyn@umich.edu. Daily Staff Reporter Edith Pendell can be reached at ependell@umich.edu.
