Wayne State University | Susan J. Demas
Two members of the Wayne State Board of Governors are seeking to hold onto their seats against two challengers on Nov. 5.
The board is made up of six Democrats and two Republicans, with Republican Michael Busuito and Democrat Mark Gaffney seeking to defend their seats.
At their August convention, Michigan Republican party delegates broomed incumbents on the Michigan Board of Trustees and the University of Michigan Regents, leaving Busuito as the only sitting Republican up for reelection out of the three university boards.
Candidates discussed college affordability, protests over the war in Gaza, mentorship opportunities for students and what the university should do with unused property.
Here are our profiles and interviews with the major party candidates:
Mark Gaffney, Democrat
Elected in 2016, Gaffney is seeking his second term on the Board of Governors, telling the Advance he’s enjoyed his work over the past eight years and that some of it remains to be completed.
Prior to serving with the board, Gaffney worked with the labor movement for 37 years, mostly with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He served as the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO for 12 years, and teaches labor economics at the university.
When pointing to efforts he’d like to see through, Gaffney noted Wayne State had seen great improvements in graduation rates, but that raw number remains low. Alongside continuing to address graduation rates, the University has also taken steps to stabilize its labor program, which Gaffney would like to see the program grow and achieve future stability.
Additionally, Gaffney said the university should rightsize its facilities due to the fewer number of students and professors, remodeling, repurposing or selling university property to better match its needs.
“We’ve got — a lot of extra people don’t know this — a lot of extra space at Wayne State, we built very much in the ‘60s, a little bit in the ‘70s, and we actually have fewer students now than we’ve had in some years past. We have fewer professors now than we’ve had, so we have extra space. We have a beautiful campus and an opportunity to rightsize the facilities in a way that can really add to students’ experience,” Gaffney said.
Wayne State University Board of Governors member and former leader of Michigan AFL-CIO Mark Gaffney accepts the Michigan Democratic Party’s official nomination for the Wayne State University Board of Governors at the party’s nominating convention in Lansing on Aug. 24, 2024 | Photo Anna Liz Nichols
“We’ve got too many parking lots now after COVID. Let’s build something on one or sell it to the community so they can build something,” Gaffney said.
When looking at the challenges the university faces, Gaffney pointed to the tension between balancing the budget, ensuring competitive pay for faculty and keeping tuition affordable for students. He also noted the medical school’s lack of a university-owned teaching hospital, with the university putting a lot of effort into placing its medical students at medical facilities in Detroit.
While discussing student protests amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, Gaffney said the board has had a difficult time navigating how to support Pro-Palestinian protestors alongside the concerns of Jewish students.
“This is a time when people who are generally of students’ age are forming opinions, are deciding how they care about the world — if in fact they do, right — and then how much they care about things that happen to relatives or to other people in other countries,” Gaffney said. “You want students to develop these ideas and these thoughts and these concerns, but they’re sometimes very strong thoughts and concerns, right?
“We want to be a place of absolute freedom of expression, but we’re a learning institution, so there always has to be in our discussions. Many of us do, but I often say, Where’s the learning opportunity in this? We’re a university. We’re a college. OK, we’ve talked about safety and the police an awful lot, where’s the learning opportunity? and you want to have students be respectful of other students and other people in their ideas and in their concerns,” Gaffney said.
While Wayne State is not trying to control the dialogue, it is trying to be aware so it can avoid it becoming a dangerous conversation, Gaffney said, placing respect for students at the center of balancing student safety with freedom of expression.
“It apparently is an uncomfortable conversation for some people, maybe it’s uncomfortable for some Jewish students. We need to be aware of that. It’s certainly difficult for some Palestinian students who may have relatives in the Middle East, or at any rate be very close to the situation,” Gaffney said.
“So feelings are high, and we have to run that balance, achieve that balance in an environment where people’s feelings are high. You have to be respectful of the students, too, no matter what side of an issue they’re on. … You have to know that any situation where a bunch of people come together and demonstrate could have impacts you don’t like, impacts you want to be careful of. That’s true, you have to be aware of that. But you don’t have to face the situation like it’s a problem, right? You can face the situation like it’s a challenge, and not ever forgetting these are your students,” Gaffney said.
Michael Busuito, Republican
After securing his renomination at the Michigan Republican Party Convention, Busuito is seeking a second term, with his first set to expire at the end of the year.
Receiving his medical degree from the university in 1981, Busuito serves as a clinical associate professor of surgery at Wayne State’s School of Medicine, alongside his plastic and reconstructive surgery practice.
On his website, Busuito lists the medical school, student access and transparency among his priorities in serving on the board.
“The mean family income for WSU is $79K. MSU is $164K, while UM is $356K. I came from a lower, middle-class family. My father never attended high school and spent the last half of his teenage years in the Marine Corps during WWII. I was a first-generation college student and money was a concern in trying to get a world-class education that was affordable. I like to represent the students who are like me: first-generation and financially challenged. I lived it, and I understand the obstacles many of our students face. I believe WSU is where the American dream is still alive. I want to keep it that way,” he said in a response to a questionnaire from The South End, Wayne State’s student newspaper.
Busuito added that he believes “the return on investment for an education must be more critically scrutinized. I see students who finish their college education and are then saddled with a debt that markedly inhibits their ability to reach financial security. I believe that if the universities had to underwrite the debt, then students would be counseled much differently.”
And he added that he would like to “mandate that students take the same citizenship test given to immigrants when they get naturalized and if they do not pass, they should be required to take courses in civics and government.”
Michael Busuito | Courtesy photo
Rasha Demashkieh, Democrat
Newcomer Rasha Demashkieh joins Gaffney in seeking to represent Democrats on the Board of Governors, bringing with her a background in education and social advocacy.
According to her campaign website, Demashkieh served multiple terms with the Port Huron Area School District Board of Trustees, winning elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011. She also served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission as a commissioner and vice chair from 2011 to 2019. Demashkieh has also served on the board of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) since 2010.
Demashkieh told WPHM education has always been a big priority in her life. After graduating from Wayne State University she moved to Port Huron, and views this election as an opportunity to be a voice for Wayne State students hailing from her region.
“We are a rural area in some ways and most of the board members are from around the Detroit area. We have special needs, there are things that we have that we need to see done for us and I would like to be able to do that. Let them know about what it is that we would like to see at the university,” Demashkieh said during the Oct. 11 radio interview.
In a video for her campaign, Demashkieh emphasized the need to support university faculty, and keep tuition affordable.
On her website, Demashkieh also outlined her focus on providing a range of experiences to promote student growth; offering quality, exciting, cutting edge learning with real life experiences and preparing students to flourish in the workforce.
Rasha Demashkieh | Courtesy photo
Sunny Reddy, Republican
At 20 years old, Sunny Reddy came to Wayne State University from his home country of India, graduating in 1994 with a master’s in chemical engineering.
While attending the university one of the major hardships Reddy faced was tuition.
“I paid 27% on my credit cards when I was in school. My goal was when I’m in this semester, my mind was thinking, you know, what can I afford to pay next semester? How can I do that,” Reddy told the Advance.
“That was a hardship. I went through it and all the time I was looking at it, you know, what? How can I help? This school, the state, this country, gave me everything what I have today. Pretty much I built my life here,” Reddy said.
Upon talking to some students at the university, Reddy said many of them expressed the same concern he had faced: tuition costs.
“I have several businesses. I’m a successful businessman and I want to give it back. And I said, in my life, you know, where can I start? I said, you know what, let me start where I started my life in this country,” Reddy said of his decision to run, earning the nomination at the Michigan Republican Party Convention in the summer.
Alongside ensuring an education at Wayne State is affordable, Reddy said he would like to ensure students and graduates have mentors if elected to the position, saying some departments could do a better job of reaching out to alumni for mentorship opportunities.
“The alumni association, let’s maybe do something. Let’s reach out to them. They can bring their wealth, they can bring their experience, they can bring their knowledge, they can be good mentors and as well as help the university financially, right,” Reddy said.
“If you look at Ivy League schools, my daughter went to Yale. You won’t believe it how many calls we get from Yale. And I don’t see that with Wayne State. We have to do it,” Reddy said.
Reddy also listed support for campus police among his priorities to ensure students are safe on campus.
When looking at ways to support students and faculty, Reddy said he’d like to bring in students and parents and university staff as partners in decision making on the board.
Wayne State University Board of Governors candidate Sunny Reddy at a Sept. 14, 2024 town hall in support of former President Donald Trump held in Farmington Hills. | Kyle Davidson
“I’ll tell you, students, whatever the policy board takes. It affects students, right? Also it affects parents, also it affects staff. So these three people, very important in decision making for the university, and I want to make sure that they are part of it,” Reddy said.
He also noted his interest in sitting down with staff members in each of the university’s departments and talking with them about their experiences.
On his campaign website, Reddy also called for investments into research, facilities and faculty to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Wayne State. On affirmative action, Reddy said “Opportunity must prioritize individual merit over race or gender. A merit-based system guarantees true fairness by assessing individuals solely on their abilities and accomplishments.”
The Advance also asked Reddy how Wayne State could best support student safety and free speech as pro-Palestinian protests continue on campus.
“I think every person has a right to protest. There’s no question about it, as long as you don’t create an inconvenience for other people,” Reddy said.
“I recently — I attended a board meeting, WSU board meeting. I was sitting and then some of the group of kids came, right? I was part of the audience sitting there, and next to me, a girl asked me, ‘You know, we will be protesting in the meeting. Can you support me?’ I told her, ‘You know what, let me talk to you guys. Let me learn more about it. I want to support you, not protest, but I want to support you,’” Reddy said.
“Israel has a right to protect themselves, but at the same time innocent people are dying. … I’m not in a position to make a difference, but that’s my personal opinion. But if I can do within my limits, I want to support a peaceful protest,” Reddy said.
Third-party candidates
Libertarian Farid Ishac, U.S. Taxpayers Party member William Mohr II, Green Party candidate Sami Makhoul, Working Class Party candidate Suzanne Roehrig and Natural Law Party member Kathleen Oakford are also running for the Board of Governors.
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