LEGISLATURE: 3 UNIVERSITIES UNITE FOR FUNDING;

EAST LANSING - Leaders of Michigan's three largest research universities appeared before the state Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, hoping to hold onto a proposed funding increase by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

But at least two senators had a favor of their own to ask: Help us get the state's health care costs under control.

Sen. Thomas George, R-Kalamazoo, challenged the presidents of the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University to find ways to make Michigan's population healthier, going so far as to ask the presidents to refuse to hire smokers.

"Where can universities help us make the population healthier? I'm not talking building new buildings. I'm talking about changing the behavior of the state's population," George said.

The request came in the first of a series of meetings between the committee and the presidents of the state's public universities as the budget is set for the next year. And though leaders of five universities spoke during Tuesday's meeting on the MSU campus, the focus was on the state's Big Three of higher education.

Granholm has proposed a 3% increase in the pool of money for higher education, but increases among the universities would vary based on numbers of financially needy students, the rate at which students complete degrees in science, technology, engineering and math, and the amount of research the schools complete.

For the state's largest institutions, research is a hefty variable. The remaining 12 state universities' funding is closely linked to needy students.

The smallest increase, by percentage, would be 2.3% bumps for Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Michigan and Western Michigan universities. Lake Superior State University would see the largest increase, 6.2%.

Presidents of MSU, WSU and U-M gave their presentations together, seeking to be seen again as a single entity for budgeting and offering comparisons to the successful Research Triangle in North Carolina. Last year, lawmakers separated the schools in the budget from the other 12 universities, but gave them the same increase as the other universities.

During questioning about the University Research Corridor, made up of the three schools, George directed the discussion to health care.

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman pushed back - first saying she would refuse a hiring policy that banned smokers and asking how much such a policy would really impact the state's budget long-term. Presidents of WSU and MSU followed her comments, saying they already offer research and programs to help boost health care initiatives.

But Sen. Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood, later echoed George's challenge.

"It's a huge asset for the state of Michigan," he said of the research corridor, "and you could have a major impact" in controlling health care costs.

Lake Superior State President Rodney Lowman, who said he was a fan of the formula funding, made his case for more money - offering a bar chart in which other universities' state appropriations dwarfed LSSU's.

Eastern Michigan was the last up, and interim President Donald Loppnow - referencing the earlier presentation by the URC presidents - said EMU fills state needs, too, in part, by educating nursing instructors to fill Michigan's shortage of nurses, providing research that could save lives of U.S. soldiers, and providing business incubators.

Contact ROBIN ERB at 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com

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