Students who attend Wednesday’s tuition disclosure meeting will hear details about the proposed 9.3 percent increase from U officials, but U President Bernie Machen will not be there to explain the reason he approves of the large tuition jump.
According to Machen’s secretary, he is in Washington, D.C., and will not return until Wednesday evening.
Student leaders distributed hundreds of flyers advertising the tuition disclosure meeting, Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium, as a chance to hear from Machen.
Student body President Ben Lowe was under the impression that Machen would attend.
“I would be surprised to not see him there,” Lowe said.
Dave Pershing, senior vice president for academic affairs, and Paul Brinkman, associate vice president for budget and planning, will represent U administration during the meeting.
“I’m going to be the speaker. I have prepared a detailed presentation to show why we have to have this tuition increase,” Pershing said. “I hope [the meeting] will be both interesting and informative.”
Student body Vice President Mike Nelson said, “I think it is disappointing [Machen] will not be there. I believe students anticipated he would be there.”
Pershing said Machen is in Washington, D.C., trying to find extra funding for the U.
“Paul Brinkman and I are responsible for the budget anyway,” Pershing said.
He has met with department chairs and college deans to discuss the budget situation many times this year.
The Truth in Tuition Bill, passed last year by the Legislature, requires school administrators to publicly announce and schedule a meeting with students to describe what tuition increases would fund.