(!) EDUC 362 grades by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 10:22 AM

For those of you in EDUC 362: We are currently working on grades and expect to have them posted sometime next week (by May 6 at latest).

(!) Portfolio notes by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, April 18, 2011 at 1:11 PM

For EDUC 362 students: A few clarifications and requests about your portfolio.

1. It is due at midnight tomorrow night, not tonight.

2. It helps us a lot if your portfolio filename includes your own name -- e.g., "Lossing_portfolio_362_w11.doc". Having a hundred files named "portfolio.doc" is a good way to drive us crazy.

3. Please do your best to upload your portfolio to this site. Most of the time when people have trouble uploading, the problem is that the file is too big because there are some number of high-resolution photos included. The best thing to do if this is the case is to use Photoshop or other image editing software and reduce the resolution of the photo before importing it into Word (a resolution of around 1000 pixels for the longest dimension should be plenty clear). Usually this is done with a menu item called something like "adjust image size." If you can't do that, you might try uploading it to Flickr or Facebook or somewhere, and then just put the URL to the image in the document. If all else fails, you may email your portfolio to the four of us, but we'd really rather have it on the site where it is easy for us to find.

(!) Kudos, and final portfolios by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 5:27 PM

Kudos to everyone for an excellent hearing today -- the panel was quite impressed.

UM students: Final portfolios should be uploaded to this site via the link above. Please be sure that the file size is less than 10MB, or it may not upload properly. Keep in mind that the portfolio is one of the major things we consider when deciding on a final grade, so be sure that you are thorough and highlight your best work this semester in the MSC. Details about the content of the portfolio are in the syllabus. Don't forget to include your own reflections and observations about what you saw and heard today in the hearing.

Also for UM students: You are no longer required to post to the site, but you are more than welcome to make further revisions to your proposals, based on what you heard from the panel today.

Again, thank you all for your contributions to the MSC!

(!) MSC Hearing: update by David Lossing on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 10:25 PM

Evening everyone: just so you all know, while our hearing is scheduled to start at 9am, there is another legislative hearing that begins at 8am in the House Appropriation committee room. The committee, the School Aid Appropriation Subcommittee may report out the FY 2012 budget for K-12 schools in the state on Thursday. I would expect a large crowd of public school supporters in the hearing room - so don't be surprised if there are a lot of people in the room when you arrive. See you on Thursday morning.

(!) Press about the hearing, and final portfolio deadline by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, April 07, 2011 at 9:36 AM

Kudos to the Hearing Coordinators for getting a bunch of advance press for the hearing!
http://www.annarbor.com/community/news/university_of_michigan_student_caucus_hearing/
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104040354
http://search.lansingstatejournal.com/localevents/event/100/121424-University-of-Michigan-Student-Caucus-Hearing

Also, for EDUC 362 students: The deadline for submitting your final portfolio was originally April 14, but because it is important to include your insights from the hearing, we are extending the deadline to midnight APRIL 19. After the hearing, there will be a link on this site where you can upload your portfolio. Please see the syllabus for details about what your portfolio should contain.

(!) Platform Updates by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, April 05, 2011 at 11:46 AM

Some updates about the platform:

In Arts & Culture, the topic coordinators have been working with the authors of "Graffiti Murals" on revisions to make it platform-worthy, and with authors of several proposals related to arts education to combine their proposals into one.

Similarly, in Human Development & Welfare, coordinators are working with the authors of "Healthy Options at School" and "Opt-Out System to Increase Organ Donations" on revisions. When these are complete, the proposals will be entered into the platform.

Meanwhile the platform is complete in the last two topic areas.

Environment & Health:
1. Allow for Off-Shore Wind Farming, by Christopher Mull
2. Placing Nutritional Information on Publicly Displayed Menus, by Zachary Schwartz

Justice & Equity:
1. Harsher Punishment for "Drugged Driving", by Ben Logan Winnett
2. Increasing LGBT Rights, by Samantha Wormser

Authors of proposals in the platform should be busy now preparing presentations for the hearing. All others should be working on revisions to your own proposals and making suggestions for revisions to others. Keep in mind that *all* published proposals are part of your collective public statement representing the interests of students across Michigan.

(!) Environment & Health town hall room by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, April 04, 2011 at 11:17 AM

The town hall for Environment and Health will be in room 1315 of the School of Ed, 6:00pm this Thursday.

(!) Notes about the April 14 hearing by Jeff Kupperman on Sunday, April 03, 2011 at 4:14 PM

As previously noted, you will be presenting the MSC platform before the Michigan House of Representatives Special Commission on Civic Engagement, 9:00 - noon on Thursday, April 14, in the House Appropriations Room of Michigan State Capitol building. Please plan to arrive no later than 8:45am; speakers and coordinators should arrive by 8:30. Lansing is about an hour from Ann Arbor by car, and you will need to arrange your own transportation there and back.

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 caucus members taking MSC as a university course, whether or not you are a topic coordinator, and whether or not you have authored a proposal in the platform.

The hearing will take place roughly as follows:

At 9:00, 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, Jay, 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 very brief (1 minute) 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 the text of your speech to your TOPIC COORDINATORS as soon as possible, but no later than Sunday, April 10.

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:

As previously noted, 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.) 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. As mentioned earlier, 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.

(!) Environment & Health town hall this Thursday @ 6:00 by Jeff Kupperman on Saturday, April 02, 2011 at 2:59 PM

A town hall meeting for Environment & Health will be held this Thursday, April 7, at 6:00, room TBA.

The featured guest will be James Clift, policy director at the Michigan Environmental Council.

Although voting has ended already in that topic, in anticipation of the hearing, please use this opportunity to refine your own proposals in Environment and Health and/or make suggestions to others for improvement.

Meanwhile, topic coordinators are currently working on recommendations for the Environment & Health platform, and the results will be posted soon.

(!) Attention April 6th town hall meeting rescheduled for 6pm. by JMcDowell on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 7:16 PM

The Justice Town Hall meeting has been rescheduled for April 6th at 6pm in the Prechter lab, SOE.

(!) Justice Town Hall Meeting scheduled by JMcDowell on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 1:03 PM

The Justice Town Hall meeting has been scheduled for April 6th at 7pm in the Prechter lab, SOE.

The speaker is Professor Jeff Morenoff who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology whose research interests include neighborhood environments, inequality, crime and criminal justice, the social determinants of health, racial/ethnic/immigrant disparities in health and antisocial behavior, and methods for analyzing multilevel and spatial data.

(!) Tonight: Town Hall hosted by Senator Warren by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 9:06 AM

UPDATE: If you attend this meeting tonight, you may count it as one of the minimum required two town hall meetings, along with the meetings organized by topic coordinators. If you do attend, be sure to take notes and include a brief summary in your final portfolio.

***

FYI, this is a good opportunity to hear what elected officials and concerned citizens are thinking about issues facing Michigan right now. Keep in mind that, while the word "budget" may cause you to yawn, budget debates are really about priorities and values -- in other words, "What things are worth spending precious tax dollars on, and which things can we let fall by the wayside?" -- so it is completely relevant to your work in the MSC.

TONIGHT
Monday, March 21st
6:30-8:00pm

State Senator Rebekah Warren is holding a town hall tonight called, "What Does Governor Snyder�??s Budget Mean to You?"

Location:
Morris Lawrence Building,
Washtenaw Community College
4800 E. Huron River Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Featured panelists:

Dr. Howard Bunsis
Eastern Michigan University Professor and Chair of the American Association of University Professors Collective Bargaining Congress

Audrey Dowell
Michigan League of Human Services

Dedrick Martin
Superintendent of Ypsilanti Public Schools

Paul Schreiber
Mayor of the City of Ypsilanti

(!) MSC Hearing April 14th in the House Appropriations Room by JMcDowell on Friday, March 18, 2011 at 11:48 AM

The MSC hearing will be held Thursday, April 14, 9am - noon, in the House Appropriations Room in the Capitol Building in Lansing. This room is much larger than rooms we have used in the past. Representative Bill Rogers (R) District 66 will chair the Committee.

The legislature will be in session starting at noon, and you are welcome to stay for a bit to see the legislature "in action."

Attendance at the hearing is mandatory for all UM-Ann Arbor students taking EDUC 362. Please make arrangements now as necessary to make sure you can attend.

(!) Reminder about revising proposals (including platform items) by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 2:36 PM

Just as a reminder from the mid-semester meeting, here are the "7 C's" to consider when revising your proposals. Even those proposals that have made it to the platform level are fair game, provided it doesn't change the intent of the proposal:

1. Cost. How will you pay for the proposal? With limited resources in state government, which Peter will you rob to pay Paul (so to speak)?
2. Conflicts. Is there legislation or policy already enacted that accomplishes what you're proposing? For that matter, are there laws that would supersede your proposal? How about other priorities?
3. Constituency. Who does your proposal affect? Is it truly a state-level initiative?
4. Confirmation. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your proposal?
5. Consultations. Have you appropriately consulted with outside experts? Have you documented these consultations appropriately?
6. Confusion. The goal isn't to suggest ideas, or even to offer support. The goal is to promote specific legislation. What do you want the legislature (or other relevant agencies) to actually DO?
7. Coordination. For proposals that have made it to the platform, does it conflict with other successful proposals? For that matter, does it overlap in ways that would suggest combining proposals?

(!) Schedule extension for Environment & Health, Justice & Equity by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 2:08 PM

Since the schedule has piled up a bit and we have a little extra breathing room before the hearing, we are extending the proposal-crafting and voting phases for Environment & Health and Justice & Equity.

For Environment & Health, resolution construction now ends on March 20, 2011; voting will end on March 27, 2011.

In Justice & Equity, resolution construction now ends on March 26, 2011; voting will end on April 3, 2011.

If you have already authored proposals in either or both of these areas, please take this opportunity to revisit them and revise in light of the key principles we discussed at the midterm meeting last week.

(!) Platform for Arts & Culture and for Human Development & Welfare by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 1:39 PM

On recommendation of the topic coordinators for Arts & Culture and for Human Development & Welfare, and based on the results of the voting, the platform for these two topic areas has been selected. However, before officially entering the proposals into the platform, the topic coordinators will be working with the authors of the selected proposals to strengthen their proposals, with particular attention to specificity, scope, and consultations.

In Arts & Culture, the most supported proposal was "Graffiti Murals," followed by several proposals related to arts in schools. The topic coordinators are working with the authors of "Graffiti Murals" to improve the level of detail, and they are working with authors of the arts-in-schools proposals to combine them into one proposal.

In Human Development & Welfare, "Healthy Options at School" and "Opt-Out System to Increase Organ Donations" have been selected. These will also undergo revision before being officially entered into the platform.

(!) HEARING DATE SET FOR APRIL 14 by Jeff Kupperman on Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 4:08 PM

The MSC hearing will be held Thursday, April 14, 9am - noon, in the Capitol Building in Lansing. The legislature will be in session starting at noon, and you are welcome to stay for a bit to see the legislature "in action."

Attendance at the hearing is mandatory for all UM-Ann Arbor students taking EDUC 362. Please make arrangements now as necessary to make sure you can attend.

More details about the hearing will be posted as the date approaches.

(!) Service coordinators by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 2:06 PM

Please note that the service coordinators have changed since the beginning of the semester. They are currently Dani Baltimore, Alexander Bonda, Jordan Klein and Matthew Yablansky.

And don't forget about the Human Development and Welfare Town Hall Meeting, tonight at 6:00pm in room 4212 School of Ed, with social entrepreneur Adam Carver as guest speaker.

(!) Platform for Economic Development and Community Revitalization by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 3:04 PM

Based on voting results and the recommendations of the topic coordinators, the following two proposals have been entered into the MSC Platform for Economic Development and Community Revitalization:

Funding and Facilitating Michigan's Clean Energy Transition, by Christopher Mull

Support Made in Michigan, by Callie Robins and Sarah Sincoff

Kudos to all who contributed ideas to these proposals and elsewhere in that topic area.

The platform in Arts & Culture will be announced soon.

(!) Town Hall for Human Development and Welfare: This THURSDAY by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, March 09, 2011 at 12:12 PM

The Town Hall Meeting for Human Development and Welfare will be held tomorrow (Thursday, March 10) at 6:00pm in room 4212 of the School of Education. Guest speaker Adam Carver is an alum working on a website that will allow people to donate unused rewards from credit card purchases to green initiatives. He has recently been to Facebook and Google pitching the idea and receiving financing.

Also, don't forget tonight's mid-term meeting, 6pm in Schorling Auditorium.

(!) Service proposals; voting by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, March 08, 2011 at 10:20 AM

The service proposals chosen for enactment (based on number of commitments and appropriateness to the criteria) are as follows:

1. Don't Take Out! Eat In! By Kayley McInerney
2. Power Hour By Alexandria Casperson and Neil Rabinowicz
3. Reduce Plug Time By Romina Reversi
4. Only Use Reusable Water Bottles By Morgan Soloman
5. School Supplies Drive By Jennifer Wolf
6. National Walk to Work Day By Lindsay Specter

If you are not already committed to one of those actions, please re-commit to one of them no later than this Thursday.

Authors, in our midterm meeting tomorrow, please be prepared to give a 30-second overview of what members will need to do if they commit to your project, and to answer questions others might have.

Also, VOTING IN ARTS AND CULTURE ENDS TODAY.

Voting in Economic Development and Community Revitalization ended before break; Coordinators in that topic are working on the results and we will announce the platform for the topic soon.

(!) Reminder: Mid-term meeting March 9 by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 11:16 AM

Just a reminder that we will hold the MSC mid-term meeting Wednesday, March 9, 6:00-8:00pm, in Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education. See our January 28 update for more details.

(!) Posting during break by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 4:56 PM

UM students are not required (though are welcome) to post during winter semester break, Feb. 26 through Mar. 6. If you have a legitimate reason why you will be unable to post for more than a day or so before or after that period, please inform all four instructors via email.

(!) Service commitments by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 11:45 AM

Between today and Feb. 27, everyone should commit to at least one service proposal other than the one you have authored yourself. Shortly thereafter, the service proposals with the most commitments (and which meet all the criteria for appropriateness) will be chosen for actual enactment, and at that point those people who are not already committed to a chosen proposal will be asked to recommit.

***Committing means that you are willing to actually carry out the proposed action sometime during the second half of the semester, if enough other people commit. So please make your choice carefully.***

To commit, pull up the text of the proposal and follow the "commit/view commitments" link near the top. When you commit, please say a few words about why you have selected that particular proposal.

(!) Arts and Culture Town Hall meeting - Thursday, Feb 24th; 4pm-7pm by David Lossing on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 9:55 AM

We have rescheduled the Arts and Culture Town Hall meeting for Thursday, February 24th from 4pm-7pm. It will be held in Room 1315 of the School of Education building. You're required to attend two of the four town halls as part of the class. Make sure to sign in so that the topic coordinators can share that information with us at the end of the semester.

(!) Arts and Culture Town Hall meeting canceled! by JMcDowell on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 5:51 PM

Tomorrow's Arts and Culture Town Hall meeting has been canceled. Please check back tomorrow for further information regarding rescheduling the meeting.

(!) Arts and Culture town hall meeting by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 3:39 PM

The Arts & Culture town hall meeting has been scheduled for 5pm on Tuesday, February 22, in Whitney Auditorium (room 1309) in the School of Education building. So that authors have at least a day to incorporate ideas from the meeting, the proposal phase for Arts & Culture will be extended through February 23.

(!) Arts & Culture dates extended; town hall meeting to be scheduled soon by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, February 14, 2011 at 3:20 PM

Coordinators for Arts & Culture are working on scheduling a town hall meeting with Bryan Rodgers, the head of Michigan's Art
Department; it will most likely be later this week.

In the meantime, we have extended the proposal-construction phase until Feb. 21, so that authors can take advantage of ideas from the town hall. Accordingly, voting in Arts & Culture is extended through Mar. 8.

(!) Service Proposals by JMcDowell on Monday, February 14, 2011 at 7:15 AM

All service proposals are due in one week.

J.McDowell

(!) Town Hall Meeting a success! by JMcDowell on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 10:11 AM

The Economic Development & Community Revitalization Town Hall Meeting was a great success last night. Kudos to the coordinators. Great turn out from the MSC participants. Hopefully, the video will be uploaded soon for everyone to enjoy!

(!) Points about proposal crafting by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, February 09, 2011 at 2:56 PM

We've gotten a number of questions about proposals, and we'd like to make a few general comments.

Please be sure you've read some of the past MSC platforms, which are linked near the bottom of this Updates section. If you need a technical refresher on how to make proposals, see the orientation screencasts (link above).

Remember that a good proposal is something that would directly or indirectly benefit a substantial number of students of many types across the state of Michigan. If it is something that exclusively or mainly benefits your school, or students with your own interests or background, you should think again.

Also keep in mind that your proposals must be something that the STATE LEGISLATURE, or at least a state agency, can act upon. If your proposal is something that would normally be under the authority of a school, a university, or a city, think of what interest the state might have, and adjust your proposal accordingly.

BE SPECIFIC. Avoid proposals that are essentially "wishful thinking." If your operative clauses say things like "Michigan residents should ..." or "The state should create incentives to ...." you are probably being too vague. What activity by Michigan residents, exactly, would you newly forbid, permit, or require? What specific incentives would you offer, to whom, under what conditions? What agency or organization would carry out or enforce this proposal, what would it cost, and how would it be paid for?

Another good thing to ask yourself as you craft your proposal is, "who might be opposed to this?" If it is something that would cost taxpayers money, would a majority of taxpayers be willing to dedicate some of their tax money to it?

Even if you have already published a proposal, we strongly encourage you to revisit it with these points in mind.

And don't forget about the town hall meeting tonight!

(!) Reminder ... by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, February 08, 2011 at 11:47 AM

... that Arts and Culture is now in its brainstorming phase ...

(!) The room for the Feb. 9 Town Hall Meeting... by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, February 02, 2011 at 9:19 PM

... will be 2229 in the School of Education.

(!) Town Hall Meeting for Economic Development & Community Revitalization, Wednesday, Feb. 9 by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, February 01, 2011 at 1:25 PM

The Economic Development & Community Revitalization topic coordinators have scheduled a Town Hall Meeting for next week Wednesday, February 9, starting at 6:00pm, room TBA. The featured speaker will be Anuja Jaitly, Founder and President of Michigan Corps.

We have extended the proposal-writing phase for Economic Development & Community Revitalization three days, to February 13, in order to allow MSC members to incorporate ideas from the meeting into their proposals. Accordingly, the voting phase has also been extended three days.

Remember that everyone in EDUC 362 needs to attend at least 2 town hall meetings during the term.

(!) As we move into the middle of the semester... by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, January 31, 2011 at 8:49 PM

... topic schedules are starting to overlap quite a bit, so be sure to keep on top of the beginning and end of each phase in each topic. For example, right now Economic Development and Community Revitalization is in the middle of its proposal-creation phase (which lasts until Feb. 10); Arts and Culture just started its proposal-creation phase; and brainstorming in Human Development & Welfare has also begun. And of course, don't forget about Service -- that is in the brainstorming phase until Feb. 10.

You may focus on the areas of most interest to you, but be sure to not let the schedule get away from you -- especially for the areas where you intend to submit a proposal. (And remember, everyone needs to submit a service proposal.) Once a proposal-creation phase is over, there's no way to add additional proposals.

(!) Service Proposals by JMcDowell on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 7:47 PM

Remember Service Proposals are due during the month of February!

(!) Midterm meeting: March 9 by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, January 28, 2011 at 11:41 AM

Please mark your calendars: we will have the MSC mid-term meeting Wednesday, March 9, 6:00-8:00pm, in Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education (same place as orientation).

This will be a chance to review requirements and tasks for the remainder of the term, hear comments and suggestions by all of the instructors, and to get your questions answered in detail.

Attendance is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED, especially for those who want to make the best possible contribution to the MSC (and thereby increase the likelihood of getting a good grade).

(!) Proposal construction ... by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 7:26 AM

... has begun in Economic Development! Get in and start authoring your own (and contribute/comment/deliberate on the ones others are proposing)!

(!) Just a reminder ... by Gary Weisserman on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 11:54 AM

... there's been some terrific deliberation so far, but I wanted to throw out a gentle reminder that resolutions (and discussion) should generally focus not just on one, specific area of the state (unless there's a pressing reason to do so). Michigan is more than just Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Lansing--be sure to check out what the rest of the mitten has going on as well ...

(!) Economic Development & Community Revitalization by JMcDowell on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 10:15 AM

Proposal construction begins this week! Make sure your proposals are well researched and that your consultations contain information from experts in the field that you have interviewed in some way.

(!) As we get rolling ... by Gary Weisserman on Monday, January 17, 2011 at 12:59 PM

... we've seen some really good discussion so far, which is very encouraging! Keep it going, and remember--depth matters ...!

Also, keep in mind the brainstorming area for Arts and Culture will open in just a few days, at which point you'll be juggling more than one topic for the first time.

Questions? Holler!

(!) First steps by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 11:36 AM

Welcome to the Winter 2011 Session of the Michigan Student Caucus!

If you're a new member, be sure to begin by updating your profile. If you're returning--or a new member who's already registered--brainstorming discussion has already begun in Economic Development. Get in, and start deliberating!

(!) Congratulations ... by Jeff Kupperman on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 8:15 PM

... to our topic coordinators and chairs:

Economic Development & Community Revitalization:
Ben Davis
Andrew Lerner

Arts & Culture:
Max Zubrow
Samuel Shenfeld
Andrew Bosse

Human Development & Welfare:
Ben Weiner
Richard Allen
Josh Jacobson

Environment & Health:
Rick Coyle
Jeff Weil

Justice & Equity:
Jenn Cleary
Lindsay Specter

Service:
Dani Baltimore
Allison Singer

Hearing coordinators:
Michelle Kletz
Hillary Krinick

(!) Mandatory MSC Fall 2010 Meeting by Gary Weisserman on Saturday, January 08, 2011 at 8:15 AM

There will be a MANDATORY orientation session for UM-Ann Arbor EDU 362, Michigan Student Caucus (Professors Lossing, Weisserman, McDowell and Kupperman) at Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education on Wedesday, January 12th, 7:00-9:00pm.

Returning students should anticipate staying an additional fifteen minutes or so.

We may be able to take a VERY SMALL NUMBER of people from the waitlist after the meeting. If there are openings, we will move down a combined waitlist from all sections, according to waitlisted date and time.

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.

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

• The MSC archives from Fall 2010, Winter 2010, Fall 2009, Winter 2009, Fall 2008 and Winter 2008. (You'll need to join the archived sites separately to view content.)
• The Fall 2010 platform (400 K, Powerpoint format).
• The Fall 2009 platform (123 K, PDF format).
• The Winter 2009 platform (200 K, PDF format).
• The Fall 2008 platform (200 K, PDF format).
• The Winter 2008 platform (160 K, PDF format).
• The Fall 2007 platform (198 K, PDF format).
• The 2005-2006 platform.
• The 2006-2007 platform.
• Students taking this course for college credit at UM-Ann Arbor may download the Winter 2011 syllabus for EDUC 362.
• Here is a presentation that was used during the orientation session to introduce the program (Google Docs).

Committee schedule:

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

Economic Development & Community Revitalization (Econ Dev): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 9, 2011 and ends on February 4, 2011; resolution construction begins on January 25, 2011 and ends on February 13, 2011; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 14, 2011 and ends on February 21, 2011.

Arts & Culture (Arts): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 20, 2011 and ends on February 6, 2011; resolution construction begins on January 30, 2011 and ends on February 23, 2011; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 24, 2011 and ends on March 8, 2011.

Human Development & Welfare (Human Dev): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 28, 2011 and ends on February 8, 2011; resolution construction begins on February 9, 2011 and ends on February 23, 2011; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 24, 2011 and ends on March 12, 2011.

Environment & Health (Env & Health): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 6, 2011 and ends on February 17, 2011; resolution construction begins on February 18, 2011 and ends on March 20, 2011; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 21, 2011 and ends on March 27, 2011.

Justice & Equity (Justice): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 14, 2011 and ends on March 6, 2011; resolution construction begins on March 7, 2011 and ends on March 26, 2011; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 27, 2011 and ends on April 3, 2011.

Service schedule:

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

Fall 2010 (Service): Open brainstorming for service projects begins on January 14, 2011 and ends on February 9, 2011; construction of service proposals begins on February 10, 2011 and ends on February 21, 2011; participants may commit to a service project beginning on February 22, 2011 through February 27, 2011. Service projects will take place between February 27, 2011 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.