(!) Final Portfolio by David Lossing on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 12:19 PM

Afternoon:

It might be helpful as you send Jeff, Gary and I your final portfolio that you include your name as part of the saved file name. It will make it easier, at least for me, to keep track of who has submitted their portfolio and not have to rename it.

Example: "David_Lossing_MSC Fall 2008 portfolio" would be an example.

Thanks.

(!) Kudos, and final instructions by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 at 1:24 PM

Congratulations on a very successful hearing yesterday! Our numbers made for some uncomfortable seating (and standing), but it made a huge impact on the panel. Kudos once again not only to the presenters, but to everyone who contributed to the platform in many different ways.

EVERYONE: Online activity is essentially over for the semester, but you may still make final edits to your proposals (whether or not they are part of the platform), and add documentation of your service activity.

UM STUDENTS: Portfolios are due, emailed to Gary, David, AND Jeff, no later than DECEMBER 17. The format is outlined in the syllabus. Please be especially sure to include any relevant information or documentation about your work that wouldn't be readily apparent from the site.

AUTHORS who presented: Make any final revisions to your proposals as appropriate, based on the feedback you received at the hearing. Then make a CLEAN copy of your proposal in Microsoft Word, with 1-inch margins in 12 point Times font, for inclusion in a platform packet we will distribute to the entire legislature. UM students should include this in your final portfolio; others should email it separately to Gary, David, and Jeff. (For co-authored proposals, one copy from one of the authors is fine.)

(!) Important information about the hearings: URGENT, must read! by Gary Weisserman on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 12:18 PM

Slight change for December 2nd's House Commission on Civic Engagement MSC hearings. The room has been changed from 426 in the Capitol Building to rooms 402 and 403 of the Capitol Building. Everything else remains the same--see you then!

(!) Justice and Security platform by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8:08 PM

The platform in Justice and Security has been finalized:

'Mandatory Drivers Test and Screening for Senior Citizens' and 'Proposal to Have Stricter Standards for Elderly Drivers' will be combining their proposals into one and presenting together. The combined proposal will be joined in the platform by one other, 'The State of Michigan's "Minor in Possession" (MIP) Law Should Be Changed.'

Congratulations to the authors, and thank you to everyone who contributed proposals and suggestions. Authors of proposals in the platform and service proposals being enacted should be making final revisions and preparing for the December 2 hearing. Others, please give them your best assistance and advice, by continuing to post in the discussion areas attached to each proposal.nali

(!) December 2nd Legislative hearing by David Lossing on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 2:46 PM

As we start planning the hearing in Lansing on December 2nd, it would be helpful, for those students who are current residents of Michigan, to let me know which State House/State Senate legislative district you live in. That information will help me invite legislators, especially if they know that their constituents - you - are in Lansing for the day.

To find your State Representative, please visit the following web site:

http://www.house.mi.gov/find_a_rep.asp

To find your State Senator, please visit the following web site:

http://www.senate.mi.gov/ and then click on the link to "Find Your Senator" on the left hand side.

Once you've found both, please send me an email at: dalossin@umflint.edu with your name and district #'s. I'll compile the list and handle the invitations.

Thanks for your help.

(!) Environment and Science Platform set; Justice & Security vote ending THURSDAY by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 9:29 AM

Three important updates:

1. The platform for the Environment and Science topic has been confirmed -- please see that area for details.

2. The voting for Justice and Security will end THURSDAY night instead of Friday, so that the coordinators can finalize the platform Friday and the authors can get started on their presentation preparations this weekend.

3. In all other topic areas, and in Service, authors should be making final edits to their proposals and preparing their presentations for Lansing. Others are welcome to make suggestions, and comments on individual clauses (accessed through the little bubble icons at the left of each clause) will probably be most useful at this point.

(!) Long but important update -- please read to the end! by Jeff Kupperman on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 11:25 PM

Voting wraps up Friday in the Justice and Security topic, and we need to start thinking about the hearing in Lansing, which is coming up fast. As previously noted, you will be presenting the MSC platform before the Michigan House of Representatives Special Commission on Civic Engagement, and the hearing will take place 9:30am - 11:30 on Tuesday, DECEMBER 2, in room 426 of the state capitol building. This is the culminating event for the MSC semester, and your best chance for your ideas to have a direct impact on lawmakers.

Attendance is MANDATORY for all UM caucus members, whether or not you are a topic coordinator, and whether or not you end up speaking to the Commission. If you have another class at that time, please explain the situation to your instructor for that class -- in the past, instructors have been very understanding. Lansing is about an hour from Ann Arbor or Flint by car, and you will need to arrange your own transportation there and back. (We're assuming that you'll be able to arrange rides amongst yourselves, but let us know if you need help finding someone to ride with. And before you ask us how to get there, look it up.)

The hearing will take place roughly as follows:

At 9:30, the chairpersons of the Michigan House of Representatives Special Commission on Civic Engagement will introduce the commission members and representatives from the various state agencies. We (Gary, David, and Jeff) will then give a brief history of the MSC, and introduce the agenda for the hearings.

Topic coordinators will then be introduced. (Each coordinator will speak, with one of you taking the lead role.) The coordinators will give a 1-2 minute summary of the most prominent ideas and issues that were discussed in that topic. They also may mention any noteworthy proposals that did NOT make it into the platform.

Then, the topic coordinators will introduce the author(s) of each resolution that has PASSED into the platform. ("And now, Mark Goldfaden and Raashid Gupta will talk about a resolution to improve tourism in the Thumb area ...") The authors will then spend NO MORE THAN 3 MINUTES explaining the underlying problem, the specifics of their resolution, and a summary of what was learned in discussion. Be sure to include specific facts and statistics in here, and above all be prepared to thoughtfully answer questions in a reasonable, highly informed way. The author(s) of each resolution in the platform should prep a BRIEF (no more than 4 slides) powerpoint presentation for these, as well as a written copy of the resolution for the committee.

AUTHORS OF SERVICE PROPOSALS currently being enacted should similarly be prepared to give a brief overview of the need for the action, the action itself, and progress to date.

AUTHORS OF RESOLUTIONS IN THE PLATFORM and ENACTED SERVICE PROPOSALS: Please send a copy of your presentation and speech to your topic coordinators AND to Gary, David, and Jeff no later than SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30.

Remember that this is FORMAL TESTIMONY before the House of Representatives. Your name and testimony will be entered into the public record. This is not a demonstration or a show; these are elected officials genuinely interested in reaping the benefits of hard work by thoughtful, intelligent, informed people. They are taking a considerable chunk of time out of their day in a busy part of the year to hear what we have to say. You will need to be well prepared, which is why the topic coordinators will need copies of everything several days in advance. Dress, needless to say, is business attire.

ALSO:

It is possible to make final revisions to proposals in topics where the vote has ended. (We purposely restricted editing on published proposals as they went into voting, for fairness and to avoid confusion.) At this point changes should be relatively minor, but authors of proposals in the platform should take special care to make sure that the proposals are complete and free of grammatical and spelling errors. You may also add or change wording for clarity. Authors of other proposals may want to revise as well, since all published proposals will become part of the MSC archive. To revise, authors and co-authors should follow the "edit" link next to the listing of their proposal.

One revision many of you will need to make is in the "consultations" section. The aim of the consultations section is to help check the feasibility and desirability of *your specific proposal* with people outside the MSC who are knowledgeable or interested in the issue. As we've said many times, you must, therefore, consult with *real, live people*, in person, via phone, or email and get their reactions to your proposal. The consultant might be someone with particular knowledge -- for example, a public official, professor, or other professional -- or it might be someone who would be especially affected by your proposal, including business owners, parents, students in another part of the state, or other ordinary citizens. In any case, the point is to broaden the kind of feedback you get on your proposal. UM students, please re-read the relevant section of the syllabus for more details.

AND FURTHERMORE:

Don't forget that there is a DISCUSSION about the vote in Justice and Security, and this is where you should be arguing the relative merits of the proposals up for consideration. If you are voting but not discussing, you're missing a big chance to influence the MSC platform.

And also, as you enact your service activities, please remember that you need to be documenting what you do (in narratives, photos, videos, etc.) and uploading that documentation to the proposal.

FINALLY (for UM students):

We've had a deluge of folks asking what they can do to "make up" for missed opportunities or lack of participation throughout the semester. Our answer is the same for everyone: the entire point of the course is to make Michigan a better place and represent the interests of students of all ages across the state, and your work will be evaluated in light of how much you contribute, directly or indirectly, to that goal. So the best thing you can do right now is to work your hardest to make sure the MSC platform is as good as it can possibly be, and that the service activities have the greatest possible impact. If you want to let us know about extenuating circumstances or efforts that might not be apparent from your online work, you'll have a chance to include all of that in your final portfolio.

Whew!

(!) Two more experts by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 3:18 PM

Russell L. Marlan, a Public Information Officer at the Michigan Department of Corrections, and Don Scavia, Phd, Professor of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, have agreed to take questions from MSC members. Given our schedule, we need to get questions to them quickly -- you have until 4:00pm on Friday for both. See the "experts" tab for their bios and to post questions.

Please note: Although the proposal construction phases -- and in the Environment and Science topic, the voting phase as well -- will be over by the time we get responses from these two experts, remember that it will be possible to edit proposals after the voting phase has ended. Even for proposals that do not make it into the platform, it is well worth revising to make them the absolute best they can be, in order to be able to take a strong MSC platform to Lansing and for the public at large.

(!) Service Actions chosen for enactment; Recommit by Monday by Jeff Kupperman on Sunday, November 09, 2008 at 12:43 PM

Six service actions have been chosen for enactment; please see the "service" section for details.

EVERYONE: If you are not committed to one of the chosen actions, you must re-commit to one of the chosen ones NO LATER THAN TOMORROW (Monday). The exceptions are authors of the chosen actions, who should focus on their own proposals.

AUTHORS: You should start organizing and scheduling your actions right away. As soon as everyone has re-committed, you will probably want to make an email list of all MSC members who will be part of your action.

Please keep in mind that when you commit to a service action, the idea isn't to just do the action in the simplest way, but to educate others and expand the impact of the action across your community.

For example, it is easy to pull a can of food off your shelf and donate it to the Food Gatherers, but committing to "Donate to a Michigan Food Bank" implies a lot more: Appropriate actions might include going door to door collecting food items; making and distributing informational flyers; talking to a high school class about hunger in Michigan; starting and promoting a Facebook group; organizing an event or adding a food collection element to an existing event; and so on.

Whatever actions you take, please take all precautions to be sure that everything you do is safe and legal. David Lossing will be the primary faculty advisor for service actions, so if you need guidance or assistance in any way, please contact him and the service coordinators, Paige Miller and Sara Nathanson.

Please also be sure that you document your involvement in the action, through photos, video, or written narrative, and that you upload that documentation to the proposal page.

Note: One of the proposals, "Wii With Seniors," is very similar to a proposal chosen for enactment last semester. Normally we would not choose such similar proposals twice, but logistical problems prevented the original action from being carried out as planned. We encourage the authors and participants to organize quickly and carry out the action successfully this semester.

Good luck and stay in touch!

(!) Last chance for Service Commitments, and voting begins in Env/Sci by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, November 07, 2008 at 11:57 AM

Today is the last day for committing to a service activity -- please be sure you have committed to at least one. After today, the Service Coordinators will choose between 5 and 10 activities for actual enactment, and then those who have not already committed to one of those will be asked to recommit.

Also, please note that voting has begun in the Environment and Science topic. Please do not simply vote, but use the discussion linked from the voting page to debate the relative merits of the proposals, and advocate for those that you think should be in the platform.

(!) Poverty platform by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 9:23 PM

The platform for the Poverty topic has been determined; please see the Poverty section for details. Thanks to all who contributed!

(!) Justice and Security expert now taking questions by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, November 04, 2008 at 11:10 AM

Sgt. Carl J. Lafata from the State Police Department and Michigan State University has kindly agreed to take questions related to your proposal ideas in the Justice and Security topic. Please post your questions by following the link under the "Experts" tab, no later than Nov. 7. You will find a brief bio for him there as well.

(!) Health Platform by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, November 03, 2008 at 6:40 AM

After discussion with the topic coordinators, the Health platform has been chosen, with a twist: Two proposals ("Nutritonal Food Throughout Michigan School Cafeterias-- A MUST," and "Healthier Cafeteria Food") will be combined into one for presentation at the hearing. The other proposals in the platform are "Giving People the Right to Know: Nutritional Intake" and "Mandatory Sexual Education Class in High Schools." Thanks to the coordinators and all the authors who submitted!

Voting also ended last week in the Poverty topic; we are discussing the platform with the coordinators for this topic and will announce the results soon.

(!) Service proposal construction ends today; commit starting tomorrow by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, October 31, 2008 at 9:54 AM

Today is the last chance to publish a service proposal.

Starting tomorrow (Nov. 1) and continuing through Nov. 7, members should "commit" to at least one of the proposals under consideration, by posting a commitment message in the appropriate area of your favorite proposal(s). Starting Nov. 8, the Service coordinators will choose several proposals for enactment, based on the number of commitments and overall feasibility and appropriateness; members will be asked to re-commit if necessary so that everyone is committed to an active proposal.

Keep in mind that a commitment means that you pledge to actually participate in the service activity if it is chosen for enactment; it is not possible to retract a commitment once made.

(!) Health Platform soon by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, October 27, 2008 at 10:48 PM

Sorry for the delay, folks, but we're still in discussions about which Health proposals to include in the platform. More soon....

(!) Poverty proposal construction ends today by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 9:39 AM

The proposal construction phase in the "Poverty" topic ends today. If you have authored a proposal that you would like considered, please be sure it is published and is well edited.

Also, we've said this before, but consultations must be REAL LIVE PEOPLE. They don't necessarily need to be experts and they don't necessarily need to support your whole proposal, but they must have some knowledge about the topic OR be someone who would be affected by your proposal, should it become law. And need to document their response -- either in an attachment or in a summary right in the "consultations" section of the proposal.

(!) Service Proposals, please! by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 3:17 PM

You have just two weeks left to write and publish service proposals, and while there were lots of good ideas in the brainstorming phase, ultimately you need to craft your ideas into concrete actions that, if chosen for enactment, can actually be carried out before the end of the semester. (EDUC 362 and EDT 532 students, this is a course requirement!) For examples, be sure to look at last winter's proposals, which are at the Winter 08 archive site: http://w08.michiganstudentcaucus.org/ (You'll need to join again in order to log in, unless you were part of the MSC then.) Starting Nov. 1, you will be asked to make a provisional commitment to participate in least one service proposal other than your own. Then on Nov. 8, approximately five proposals will be chosen for actual enactment (based on number of commitments and feasibility), and you will be asked to re-commit to one of those five.

Remember that Service proposals must meet these criteria:
- They should allow for broad participation by students of a broad range of ages in
a broad range of locations in Michigan.
- Participation should be possible with no (or very minimal) financial commitment
from participants.
- The activity should not focus on a particular political party.
- The activity should not involve simply volunteering for or contributing to an
existing organization in a standard way.
- All parts of the activity must be legal and must not put participants at increased
physical or mental risk.

(!) Save the date: MSC hearings! by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 3:07 PM

It appears as though the Fall 2008 MSC hearings will be on TUESDAY, December 2nd, from 9:30 AM-11:30 AM in room 426 of the Capitol Building in Lansing! Be sure to mark this event in your calendar now, especially if you're in EDU 362 (attendance is a course requirement).

FYI--more info later!

(!) Two resolutions enter platform in Ed & Arts topic by Jeff Kupperman on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 11:56 AM

Voting is over in the Education & Arts topic, and based on the results we have chosen two resolutions to be part of the MSC platform. Please see the Ed & Arts area for details. Authors will be able to make final edits before presenting at the hearing in Lansing. (Speaking of which, we are still working on a hearing date, and hope to be able to let you know soon.)
Meanwhile, congratulations to the authors, and thank you to all who contributed proposals! (Proposals that did not make it into the platform will still remain publicly accessible on the site.)

In other topics, voting is continuing in Health until Oct. 14, proposal construction continues in Poverty until Oct. 21, brainstorming begins in Environment and Science today, and proposal construction is underway in Service.

(!) Creative Cities Summit by Jeff Kupperman on Sunday, October 05, 2008 at 10:37 PM

FYI: Next week (Oct. 12-15) Detroit is hosting the second national Creative Cities Summit, bringing together leading thinkers on all aspects of revitalizing urban areas and creative communities. Even if you don't go, it's worth looking at the agenda to see what kinds of ideas are in the air, and who is writing and speaking about them now.

creativecitiessummit.com

(!) Ed & Arts vote under way by Jeff Kupperman on Saturday, October 04, 2008 at 10:47 AM

Voting in Education & the Arts is currently under way, and we'd like to remind everyone of two things:

1. Be sure to set your "weights" (click the tab over in the left side bar), to reflect the importance you want to give your votes for the various topics. Higher numbers indicate higher importance, and your votes will be multiplied by your designated weight for that topic. You may change the weights at any time, but after a vote on a topic ends, that weight becomes frozen.

2. It is important for everyone to vote, but it is equally important to DISCUSS the relative merits of the proposals. Follow the "discussion about this vote" link in the voting area.

(!) One more expert testimony by Gary Weisserman on Friday, October 03, 2008 at 11:33 AM

It's a little later than anticipated, but Dr. Jackie Shadko's responses to questions about the state of higher education in Michigan are well worth reading over in the "Experts" area ...!

(!) Health expert responses by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 3:31 PM

Responses from Dr. Winfield, Director of University Health Service have been posted in the "Experts" area. (Follow the same link you used when you asked questions and scroll down just under the introduction.) Due to time constraints, he was only able to respond to four questions, but it's worth a look!

(!) Currently in the topic areas.... by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 1:02 PM

Ed & Arts: The proposal construction phase ends tomorrow (Tuesday). If you are editing a proposal and wish to have it considered for the platform, please make sure you finish and PUBLISH it right away. If you have a published proposal, it's your last chance to make edits before the voting begins (editing is not allowed during the voting phase).

Health: Proposal construction continues through Oct. 5.

Poverty: Brainstorming is currently active and continues through Oct. 8.

Service: Brainstorming has been extended one week, to Oct. 6. Proposal construction will start Oct. 7.

(!) Editing published proposals by Jeff Kupperman on Saturday, September 27, 2008 at 1:26 PM

We've made a small technical change to the site: You may now edit your proposals even AFTER they are published, up until the time that voting begins. The intent is to allow authors to respond to suggestions made by MSC members during the proposal-creation phase. When the voting phase begins, further editing will not be possible.

(!) Expert testimony: MaryAlice Galloway by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 5:15 PM

Attached is a copy of MaryAlice Galloway's thoughtful responses to MSC questions about education in Michigan. Well worth your careful read ... it's also posted in the "Experts" section.

(!) Expert testimony: Mike Latvis, Director of Public Policy, ArtServe Michigan by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 9:32 AM

Attached are two very important files. First, Mike Latvis' excellent and thoughtful responses to questions posed by MSC members regarding arts in the state. I strongly, strongly recommend reading his answers carefully! Second, Mike has passed along an important document entitled, "Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy." It's a must read!

Check it out ...

(!) Brainstorming in Ed/Arts and Health is closed by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 11:48 PM

Everyone, please note that the brainstorming discussions in Ed & Arts and Health are closed -- we had inadvertently allowed posting to continue in existing discussions beyond the brainstorming phase, but we've shut that off now. Please concentrate on proposal writing and proposal discussion in those two topics, as well as brainstorming Service activities and contributing questions for our latest expert, Dr. Winfield. Brainstorming in the Poverty topic begins September 27.

(!) New expert testimony open for questions by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 5:00 PM

... And speaking of expert testimony, we're taking questions for our next expert, Dr. Robert Winfield, Director of the University Health Service. You may submit questions until 8pm Sunday, following the new link in the "Experts" area. Thanks to Marisa for setting it up!

(!) FYI ... by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 3:48 PM

... our first three Expert Chats should be up shortly--the questions have been sent off to the experts in Arts and Education, and we're just waiting to hear back!

(!) Current topics by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 2:52 PM

As we start to get into the thick of this MSC session, here's an overview of what's going on right now:

- Education & Arts is in the proposal creation phase until Sept. 30. You may author (or co-author) proposals in that topic, and comment on any proposals that have been published.

- Similarly, the proposal creation phase for Health has just started, and it will continue until Oct. 5.

- Service is in the brainstorming phase and will be for a while, but start getting ideas out there now -- the brainstorming area is looking pretty lonely!

Please note: as you start write and comment on proposals, be sure you have looked at the resolutions in the past several MSC platforms as models (scroll down to one of the earlier updates, where there are a bunch of links).

(!) Expert questions for Ed & Arts closing soon! by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 6:56 PM

Don't forget that noon Saturday is the deadline for submitting questions to our Education and Arts experts. This is a great chance to get expert feedback on your ideas so far -- please take advantage of the opportunity!

(!) "Experts" area now open for questions by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 9:51 AM

We are now accepting questions for the three experts Gary introduced in a previous update; to submit a question, please go to the "Experts" tab and follow the various links.

You may submit questions until noon this Saturday; after that we will compile and edit the questions, email them to the appropriate expert, and post their responses when they reply.

Please make sure that your questions are tailored to the particular expert -- do not ask the same question to all of them! And please limit yourself to no more than one question per expert. For those in the university courses, you must participate in *some* (at least 3) of the expert Q & A during the semester, but you do not need to submit a question to every expert. There will be more expert testimony opportunities as the semester goes on.

(!) Proposals in the sandbox area by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 4:44 PM

This is a reminder that the "sandbox" area is for PRACTICE only. If you have a serious proposal or comment to make, please be sure to post it in the appropriate topic area during the appropriate phase for that topic.

(!) Brainstorming in the "Health" topic now open by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 4:20 PM

We've moved up the start date for the "Health" brainstorming phase by a couple days, so if you'd like to get started, please go ahead.

(!) First expert testimony by Gary Weisserman on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 2:21 PM

We're in the process of changing the "expert testimony" system, but in the meantime, there's no harm in people preparing questions for our first three guests. They will be:

MaryAlice Galloway, Senior Advisor to the Chief Academic Officer, State of Michigan.

MaryAlice has worked for the Michigan Department of Education for many years in a variety of service areas.  She currently serves as policy advisor to the Deputy Superintendent/Chief Academic Officer overseeing the development and implementation of policies and programs.  She provides leadership to multi-office projects within MDE; supports the work of Chief Academic Officer by conducting research, leading internal staff meetings, convening work groups and developing draft reports.  She also serves on the Superintendent’s cabinet and strategic planning teams.

Mike Latvis, Director of Advocacy, ArtServe Michigan.

Mike Latvis has been involved with the legislative process, polling and campaigns for over 6 years. Currently, he serves as the Director of Public Policy for ArtServe Michigan, a statewide arts and cultural advocacy nonprofit organization. In his position at ArtServe, Latvis works to promote arts & culture and arts education in Michigan through grassroots organizing and lobbying at the state and federal level. 
 
Mr. Latvis has experience in both political and corporate research at the federal, statewide and local levels and is dedicated to providing reliable and strategic results with a quick turnaround. Below is a partial list of political, polling and legislative positions Mr. Latvis has held:   

• Benenson Strategy Group 2006-2007; Analyst
• Michigan State Senator Buzz Thomas 2002-2006; Senior Legislative Assistant
• Michigan Kerry-Edwards Campaign 2004; Field Coordinator 
• Buzz Thomas for Senate Campaign 2002; Field Coordinator

He received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and, in addition to positions mentioned above, has worked on a number of state and local legislative campaigns.

Jacqueline Shadko, President, Oakland Community College, Orchard Ridge Campus (biography coming soon).

Together, the three of them are among the state's experts in K-12 education, arts education and advocacy, and higher education. Start preparing your questions regarding the state of these areas of policy, as well as possible questions regarding resolutions, now!

More soon ...

(!) Proposal construction and more by Gary Weisserman on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 8:57 AM

FYI, based off the ongoing conversations in the brainstorming area, you can now begin constructing resolutions proposals in Education and the Arts ... get to it!

Also, we're updating the "experts" part of the site to allow a different kind of email exchange, after which we'll be announcing our first expert chats. More soon, hopefully today!

(!) Topic Coordinators by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 10:59 AM

The topic coordinators are listed below. They are all MSC "veterans," so don't hesitate to contact them personally if you have ideas or questions related to a particular topic, or about the MSC in general. Contact information for them (and for any user) can be found by searching for their name via the "Users" tab.

Education & the Arts: David, Gary, and Jeff
Health: Marissa Seiss, Sam Rosen, Brock Strasbourger
Poverty: Mark Zimmerman, Torre Shapiro
Environment & Science: Andrew Smook, Jared Siegal, Brendan Weitz
Justice: Tom Bell, Dustin Wachler, Mike Zuckerman
Service: Paige Miller, Sara Nathanson

(!) "Green revolution" talk by Thomas Friedman, Sept. 17 by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 11:52 AM

Even though the "Environment and Science" topic won't come up in the MSC for a few more weeks, if you're interested in the environment and green energy, you'll want to check out a talk on Sept. 17 by Thomas Friedman, columnist and author of The World is Flat.

For UM students, tickets are free if you bring your UM ID to the Michigan Union Ticket Office.

See http://www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Sep08_08/09.php

(!) Just a reminder ... by Gary Weisserman on Monday, September 08, 2008 at 12:27 PM

... that the University of Michigan orientation session, which is MANDATORY for EDU 362 students, will take place on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2008, at 7:00 PM. This session is for all three sections. See you then!

Students in local high schools, or at the University of Michigan-Flint, should contact their instructor or advisor for information about orientation sessions.

Technical notes:

The new Michigan Student Caucus site is still in beta. Thanks for your patience in helping us make it better!

At the moment, you'll need the Firefox or Safari browser to be able to access all site capabilities (we strongly recommend Firefox for all platforms). Until further announcement, assigning weights to topics and the "drag and drop" features used while editing proposals do not work in Internet Explorer. We are working on the issue and hope to resolve it soon.

Technical update: A problem has been found in Safari as well. When you upload media files, Safari will not refresh the page properly. For the time being, if you must use Safari, you may need to click on a tab again to refresh. We are aware of the problem and are looking for a fix.

About the Michigan Student Caucus

The Michigan Student Caucus represents students throughout Michigan to the Michigan State Legislature. Since 2001, thousands of students across Michigan have participated in online deliberation, negotiation and voting leading to the construction of a political platform that is presented in formal testimony to the House Commission on Civic Engagement.

The Michigan Student Caucus is not affiliated with any political party or organization. The MSC is open to any Michigan resident (permanent or temporary) who is a student. For information about the program, please contact our faculty advisors at The University of Michigan, Professors Gary Weisserman and Jeff Kupperman.

Twice each year, MSC participants, including hundreds of high school and college students from around Michigan, present testimony about the MSC platform before the Michigan House of Representatives' Special Commission on Civic Engagement. Frequently, the platform is themed. This year's theme is "Michigan 2018." Our goal is to figure out where we want to be ten years from now--and how we need to get there. Our most recent previous theme was "Cool Cities, Cool State," and was offered in partnership with Michigan's Cool Cities Collaborative.

The following documents may be useful to you in getting started:

• Here is the Winter 2008 platform (160 K, PDF format).
• Here is the MSC archive from Winter 2008. (You'll need to join the archived site separately to view content.)
• Here is the Fall 2007 platform (198 K, PDF format).
• Here is the 2005-2006 platform.
• Here is the 2006-2007 platform.
• Students taking this course for college credit at UM-Ann Arbor may download the Fall 2008 syllabus for EDUC 362.
• Here is a presentation that was used during the orientation session to introduce the program (Google Docs).

Please note: the MSC has recently moved to a new system. Bear with us as we discover and address problems in the new software, and let us know if you encounter any bugs.

Committee schedule:

The committee schedule will occur along the following schedule (schedule subject to change):

Education and the Arts (Ed & Arts): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on September 3, 2008 and ends on September 14, 2008; resolution construction begins on September 15, 2008 and ends on September 30, 2008; voting on submitted resolutions begins on October 1, 2008 and ends on October 10, 2008.

Health (Health): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on September 15, 2008 and ends on September 22, 2008; resolution construction begins on September 23, 2008 and ends on October 5, 2008; voting on submitted resolutions begins on October 6, 2008 and ends on October 14, 2008.

Poverty (Poverty): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on September 27, 2008 and ends on October 8, 2008; resolution construction begins on October 9, 2008 and ends on October 21, 2008; voting on submitted resolutions begins on October 22, 2008 and ends on October 28, 2008.

Environment and Science (Env & Sci): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on October 11, 2008 and ends on October 22, 2008; resolution construction begins on October 23, 2008 and ends on November 6, 2008; voting on submitted resolutions begins on November 7, 2008 and ends on November 13, 2008.

Justice and Security (Just & Sec): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on October 23, 2008 and ends on October 29, 2008; resolution construction begins on October 30, 2008 and ends on November 15, 2008; voting on submitted resolutions begins on November 16, 2008 and ends on November 20, 2008.

Service schedule:

The service schedule will occur along the following schedule (schedule subject to change):

Fall 2008 (Service): Open brainstorming for service projects begins on September 2, 2008 and ends on October 6, 2008; construction of service proposals begins on October 7, 2008 and ends on October 31, 2008; participants may commit to a service project beginning on November 1, 2008 through November 8, 2008. Service projects will take place between November 8, 2008 and the end of the session, based on the dates identified in each adopted project. (Projects must be approved by the service chair and faculty advisors.)

Special events, such as expert chats, will take place regularly. Please check the latest news in the "updates" area.

All MSC participants are, of course, strongly encouraged to attend our hearings in Lansing, usually in December and April (dates TBA). Participants earning college credit in EDUC 362 (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor) or EDT 532 (University of Michigan-Flint) are expected to attend per course requirements.