(!) Justice & Equity Town Hall Meeting 6pm today by Jeff Kupperman on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 11:29 AM

Remember that there is a town hall meeting in the topic of Justice & Equity today at 6pm; details are in the announcement posted January 16.

Also, if you missed President Obama's speech in Ann Arbor this morning, the archived video should be available soon at www.whitehouse.gov (follow the "photos & video" link). The president mentioned several agenda items pertaining to higher education, and whether or not you agree with them, they are worth considering as inspiration for thinking about MSC proposals.

(!) Arts & Culture Town Hall by Jeff Kupperman on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 4:13 PM

A Town Hall meeting for Arts & Culture has been scheduled for 5pm next Thursday, February 2, in room 1322 of the School of Education.

The featured guest will be Jim Burnstein, a screenwriting professor at UM. Until last year Jim was Vice Chairman of the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council, and he is an accomplished screenwriter whose credits include "D3: Mighty Ducks" and "Renaissance Man." He is especially knowledgeable about incentives for filmmaking in Michigan, but everyone interested in the arts in Michigan should find this town hall of interest.

(!) Office Hours: by Michael Fahy on Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:12 AM

For those of you who have questions about MSC or simply want feedback, I will be at the ICS Office (516 SOE, located in the south basement of the School of Education Buiilding) this MONDAY (January 23) from 12:15 - 2:15 PM. Michael

(!) Crowd Sourcing Bill Writing by JMcDowell on Friday, January 20, 2012 at 8:04 AM

Congress may be taking a similar approach to proposals as the MSC. Interesting article to read:

http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/18/the-open-act-as-an-experiment-in-digital-democracy/?hpt=hp_bn6

(!) Gov. Snyder's State of the State Address is tonight! by JMcDowell on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:54 AM

State of the State Address on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 7 p.m. EST. Listen for Gov. Snyder's ideas on how to fix Michigan and then integrate what you liked and didn't like into the MSC.

(!) Justice & Equity Town Hall Meeting: January 27, 6pm by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, January 16, 2012 at 8:31 AM

A town hall meeting in the topic area of Justice & Equity will be held January 27 at 6:00pm, in room 1322 of the School of Education. Brian Mackie, Prosecuting Attorney for Washtenaw County, will be the featured guest. MSC members in EDUC 362 at UM-Ann Arbor should keep in mind that attendance at a minimum of two town hall meetings during the semester is required. Town hall meetings for other topic areas will be scheduled as the semester goes on.

(!) Additional topic coordinators by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 8:20 PM

We have five additional topic coordinators and have added their names to the previous announcement. Two of them are "hearing coordinators," who will be helping to organize and publicize the hearing at the end of the semester in Lansing.

(!) Second Orientation Meeting Jan. 12th by JMcDowell on Monday, January 09, 2012 at 1:04 PM

We are having a second orientation on Thursday, Jan 12th at 7pm in room 2340 SOE. If you did not attend the first orientation or need further clarification please attend.

(!) Topic Coordinators by Jeff Kupperman on Thursday, January 05, 2012 at 8:44 PM

As we start the Winter 2012 MSC session, a big thank you in advance to the topic coordinators, who are as follows:

Justice & Equity:
Megan Knuth & Andrew Snow

Arts & Culture:
Scott Tuchfeld & Andrew Eisbrouch

Human Development & Welfare:
Brent Petrone & Alyssa Steinway

Environment & Health:
David Kozlowski & Joshua Zeman

Economic Policy:
Neil Rabinowicz & Bari Abrams

Community Revitalization & Social Entrepreneurship
Calie Morrow & Josh Leighton

Service:
Rich Abdy & David Stover

Hearing:
Zach Kadden & Dana Schostak

(!) Mandatory MSC Winter 2012 Meeting by Jeff Kupperman on Monday, December 26, 2011 at 8:15 AM

There will be a MANDATORY orientation session for UM-Ann Arbor EDU 362, Michigan Student Caucus (Professors Lossing, McDowell and Kupperman) at Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education on Thursday, January 5, 7:00-8:30pm.

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

Registration permissions for those on the waitlist will be given automatically if and when there are openings, in order of waitlisted date and time across all sections. If you are on the waitlist, you are welcome to attend the orientation and see if there are openings, but we cannot promise overrides.

Technical note: We recommend using Firefox or Chrome to be able to access all site capabilities.

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 advisor at The University of Michigan, 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:

• Students taking this course for college credit at UM-Ann Arbor may download the Winter 2012 syllabus for EDUC 362.
• Similarly, students taking this course for college credit at UM-Flint may download the Winter 2012 syllabus for EDT 220.
• The MSC archives from Fall 2011, Winter 2011, 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 2011 platform (20MB, Powerpoint format).
• The Winter 2011 platform (258 K, PDF format).
• 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.
• 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):

Justice & Equity (Justice): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 5, 2012 and ends on January 14, 2012; resolution construction begins on January 15, 2012 and ends on February 3, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 4, 2012 and ends on February 11, 2012.

Arts & Culture (Arts): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 8, 2012 and ends on January 21, 2012; resolution construction begins on January 22, 2012 and ends on February 10, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 11, 2012 and ends on February 18, 2012.

Human Development & Welfare (Human Dev): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 19, 2012 and ends on February 7, 2012; resolution construction begins on February 8, 2012 and ends on February 21, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 22, 2012 and ends on March 6, 2012.

Environment & Health (Env & Health): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 3, 2012 and ends on February 17, 2012; resolution construction begins on February 18, 2012 and ends on March 8, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 9, 2012 and ends on March 16, 2012.

Economic Policy (Econ Policy): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 11, 2012 and ends on February 24, 2012; resolution construction begins on February 25, 2012 and ends on March 11, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 12, 2013 and ends on March 20, 2012.

Community Revitalization & Social Entrepreneurship (Community): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 18, 2012 and ends on March 9, 2012; resolution construction begins on March 10, 2012 and ends on March 25, 2012; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 26, 2012 and ends on April 4, 2012.

Service schedule:

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

Winter 2012 (Service): Open brainstorming for service projects begins on January 5, 2012 and ends on January 29, 2012; construction of service proposals begins on January 30, 2012 and ends on February 12, 2012; participants may commit to a service project beginning on February 13, 2012 through February 19, 2012. Service projects will take place between February 19, 2012 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.