Michigan
How Michigan universities’ lobbying changed amid threats to higher education
When President Donald Trump took office in January, he promised to fundamentally reshape higher education by cutting research funding, restricting international students, ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and taking other actions that higher education leaders scrambled to handle.
Behind the scenes, university government relations, along with private lobbying firms, visited lawmakers to plead their cases. The University of Michigan spent nearly $1.2 million on lobbying this year, more than three times what it spent in total in 2024, public lobbying disclosures show. UM is the largest research university in Michigan, with research spending that totaled $2.04 billion in 2024.
The cuts have affected the state’s three largest research institutions in UM, Michigan State University and Wayne State University the most.
This wasn’t entirely surprising, said Jesse Crosson, an associate professor of political science at Purdue University who studies legislative politics and money in politics, partly focused on how partisan competition has influenced the way interest groups operate. Not only was the university advocating for itself as it always had, but it was pushing back against a Republican White House that was deeply skeptical of higher education’s mission.
“You have to imagine (UM and other universities) are pretty nervous,” Crosson said. “I would say there’s something to the fact they’ve increased their spending.”
Michigan State University has also increased spending on lobbyists this year to $370,000, 15% more than at this time last year.
The job hasn’t changed much amid the change in leadership and money spent, said Rebecca DeVooght, Michigan State University vice president of government relations. It has required her team to move faster, however.
“The pace of federal action has required deeper coordination across campus and a more proactive engagement in Washington,” DeVooght said.
The way universities use their time with lawmakers has also changed slightly, DeVooght said. She said she’s found that policymakers are more receptive to specific real-world examples of MSU’s impact, something Michigan Association of State Universities CEO Dan Hurley said he encourages advocates for the universities to do.
“No matter how positive facts and figures are, it’s often the individual stories of students and graduates that have the most positive impact on legislators,” Hurley said.
How coalition saved $5M for MSU
The Nos. 1, 2 and 3 things on the minds of lawmakers are whether they’ll have a job in the next few years, Crosson said. Anything that can help them secure reelection is something they’ll take seriously, and universities should target that, he said.
Ezemenari Obasi, Wayne State University’s vice president of research, has visited Washington, D.C., alongside Relations Officer Melissa Smiley and the university’s hired lobbying firm, Lewis-Burke Associates. He said he’s found members of Congress are more receptive to stories about how the university has affected people.
“What we found to be most effective is less about dollar amounts, but more around: How would the city of Detroit be impacted if these programs were ended?” Obasi said. “And so we spent a lot of time using case statements to show the value of higher education and the value that the research done has on our local communities.”
In conversations with lawmakers, he said he’s pointed to research and work done by Wayne State’s Karmanos Cancer Institute as an example of the real-world impact.
“We talk about how 60% of cancer patients (in Michigan) will have a touchpoint with Karmanos,” Obasi said. “And so, if you begin to remove funding like that, we have a hard time dealing with prevention and various treatment modalities that are actually saving lives. And I think that story is impactful, because most people can relate with someone who’s experienced cancer.”
These one-on-one conversations with lawmakers are crucial, he said.
“I think oftentimes it’s easy for us to paint our lawmakers with a brush, based on what we see in the media,” Obasi said. “And what I have found is that having these one-on-one conversations are really an excellent opportunity to work through any kind of misunderstandings.”
DeVooght said the conversations have a real impact. She pointed to earlier this year, when it wasn’t clear if the Flint Lead Exposure Registry would be funded for the 2026 fiscal year because the funding was held up due to layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A bipartisan coalition of 12 Michigan lawmakers and four others signed a letter calling for the registry, which is administered by MSU, to be fully funded.
“It was all hands on deck,” DeVooght said. “(Rep.) Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Township), Tom Barrett, everyone in the state was saying, ‘This is our priority.’”
Through the work of MSU and the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, the Flint Registry was approved in August for nearly $5 million through 2026.
U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who represents MSU, has always had “a positive and productive working relationship” with MSU, Barrett spokesman Jeremiah Ward said in an email.
“That relationship recently led to the congressman securing $3 million for MSU to support the innovative agricultural research happening on campus,” Ward said. “We look forward to keeping lines of communication open as we work together to deliver results for the university and the greater mid-Michigan community.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, said her relationship with UM has fluctuated over the last decade. She said she feels her role is to consider all aspects of the university as a major constituent — both the things she likes that it’s doing and the things she doesn’t.
“My job is to understand their perspectives on issues that impact them, the students, the faculty, the athletes,” Dingell said.
U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Detroit Democrat who represents Wayne State in his district, said the Detroit urban university has been “a model for higher education everywhere.”
“I am proud to represent the school in Congress, and have an open door policy with them, for anything they need,” Thanedar said in a statement. “Achieving fully funded college for all students is a goal of mine, and making sure to secure as much federal funding as possible for Wayne State is a top priority for me.”
Rising costs of lobbying
The costs of lobbying are rising. In UM’s case, the amount of representation is too.
In 2023 and 2024, Michigan State spent the same amount of money on in-house government relations: $340,000. In 2025, MSU has reached $310,000.
In 2023, UM spent $300,000 on in-house government relations and $260,000 in 2024. This year, it has spent $520,000.
UM officials did not respond to questions from The Detroit News, but disclosures show Michigan has retained the Alston and Bird Law Firm and, in 2024, brought on Strategic Marketing Innovations. This year, the university hired Ballard Partners and BGR Group as additional lobbying groups.
Michigan State University retains Bose Public Affairs Group as a partner, specifically to lobby for “issues related to funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear physics program,” disclosures show. This is primarily used to get contracts or grants for the campus’ Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, spokesperson Amber McCann said.
MSU hasn’t spent considerably more on outside lobbying compared with the last two years, a consistent rate of $20,000 every quarter and $80,000 annually. UM spent $25,000 on outside representation in 2023 and $95,000 in 2024. This year, UM officials have spent $660,000.
Wayne State only retains outside counsel. Like MSU, Wayne State is on pace with 2024 spending at $50,000 a quarter or $200,000 for the year.
Crosson said the practice of retaining both in-house and outside, multi-client lobbyists isn’t unusual. The number of organizations with “hired gun” lobbyists acting on their behalf is the highest it’s been since at least the mid-1990s, he said.
These organizations hire lobbyists for two things, Crosson said: their specialized expertise on a topic, such as nuclear energy programs, and their ability to get access to a lawmaker.
“The advantage (of an in-house lobbyist) is you can look out for MSU’s or UM’s interests, and their interests alone,” Crosson said. “They only have one client to care about. On the other hand, you may hire a contractor because they specialize in something. Maybe they’ve spent their career inside the Department of Energy and know what they’re looking for in a grant application, or what they’re looking for in a contract like the back of their hand. So they’re more specialized than you can ever hope to be.”
As Congress has become less autonomous and more decisions are made by party leadership behind closed doors, it’s even more important to know who can get a university official in the room with a lawmaker, he said.
University networks
Universities don’t always need to rely on firms or government relations executives to get their points heard by lawmakers. Institutions can lean on their alumni, especially those who hold seats in Congress or roles in legislative offices, to help get their message heard. Former longtime U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, was a UM graduate.
“Lobbyists do have the impression that sharing an alma mater can improve access, either with an individual staffer or with the legislator themselves,” Crosson said. “There’s 20,000 lobbyists in Washington and only 535 legislator offices. Competition for access is pretty steep, and you’re looking for any sort of advantage you can find to make a connection with that office.”
But the real influence of universities is hard to quantify through just the information on lobbying disclosures, Crosson said. Prominent alumni often are influential with lawmakers, particularly the ones to whom they’ve donated, and universities sometimes tap into these informal relationships to advocate their causes, he said.
“Asking a prominent alum who happens to be a big-time businessperson or a big-time media influencer or whatever, who lives in the district of a member of Congress to talk to them on (the university’s) behalf, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that,” Crosson said. “And (the alum) would not need to register to do that because it’s just an American exercising their First Amendment right to petition one’s government.”
Michigan State has started tapping into its student and parent base, along with alumni and faculty, for its “Spartan Advocate” initiative.
“We’re trying to mobilize thousands of Spartans; students, alumni, and now we’ve expanded it to employees and faculty to help tell the story better in D.C., in Lansing and across the state,” DeVooght said. “I think this is a modernized advocacy network that’s really grassroots-based and allows us to speak with a more unified voice.”
What universities are asking for
Although the job of a university government relations team hasn’t changed, the focus of the conversations has, Wayne State’s Obasi said.
“Last year, we were much more future-oriented,” he said. “We’d talk about how we can collaborate around shared interests and so forth. Whereas this year, we were in a more defensive posture around how we protect our interests.”
Wayne State’s disclosures show something similar. Along with what they’ve lobbied for in the past, the disclosures show the Detroit-based university lobbying specifically about “issues related to grant funding” and, before it was passed, lobbying on “issues pertaining to higher education policies, student aid, and taxes” that were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill signed by Trump on July 4.
Like Wayne State, Michigan State and Michigan both lobbied specifically on grant cancellations this year, something they haven’t had to do in the past two years, according to disclosures.
DeVooght and Obasi agreed that their relationships with lawmakers were one of the most important parts of their jobs and said they had good relationships, despite more scrutiny about higher education from Trump officials and Congress.
“Our delegation is exceedingly available, and they are beyond available to Michigan State,” DeVooght said. “We are lucky that we have individuals that are willing to pick up the phone, are willing to text.
“They’re busy people, and we’re busy people,” DeVooght continued. “But there’s not a time that we don’t have access to all of them.”
satwood@detroitnews.com
2025 MI marijuana excise tax revenues drop for local governments
In 2025, local government retail license share dropped $4,211 from Michigan marijuana sales for the tax year. New taxes could cut it more in 2026.
Michigan municipalities and counties that allow recreational marijuana dispensaries are set to receive far less money this year than last in their annual portion of tax revenue collected from cannabis sales.
Sales declined in 2025 for the first time since legal recreational marijuana sales started in December 2019.
A total of 114 cities, 39 villages, 81 townships, 75 counties and four tribes will receive payments from the Marijuana Regulation Fund, according to a March 3 news release from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. They will get about $54,000 per retail store or microbusiness, based on nearly $94 million collected.
Last year, each eligible government entity received a little more than $58,000 per business based on a total of nearly $100 million in marijuana tax revenue.
Detroit, once again, will receive the most money of any municipality. There are 61 active retailer licenses in Detroit, so the city will get nearly $3.3 million in tax revenue.
State law determines how the money is split. The Michigan Transportation Fund gets 35% of the revenue, which is used for the repair and maintenance of roads and bridges, and another 35% goes to the School Aid Fund to be used for K-12 education. The other 30% is split between municipalities, counties and tribes.
The payments come from revenue collected from the 10% recreational marijuana excise tax. This tax is separate from a new 24% wholesale tax that went into effect Jan. 1. The revenue from that tax will go to fixes for local roads.
Sales at recreational marijuana dispensaries declined by 3% last year to $3.17 billion, down from $3.28 billion in 2024, according to figures from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency, leading to the smaller payouts. More government entities also split the revenue compared with last year.
Payments to municipalities could get smaller if sales continue to decline. Recreational marijuana sales in Michigan plunged nearly 16% in January compared with December as heavy snow, cold temperatures and fears of higher prices due to the new 24% wholesale cannabis tax kept consumers at home.
While recent trends indicate a cooling period, a February report from Headset, a cannabis market intelligence firm, said the market — one of the largest in the country — has shown resilience over the last two years.
Below are the municipalities that received the most tax revenue:
- Detroit: $3.3 million
- Grand Rapids: $1.5 million
- Lansing: $1.4 million
- Ann Arbor: $1.2 million
- Kalamazoo: $1 million
- Flint: $648,000
- Traverse City, Hazel Park and Adrian all will receive $594,000.
For a full list of municipalities, counties and tribes that will receive marijuana tax revenue, go to www.michigan.gov/treasury.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping everything from classroom conversations to social media, and leaders at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) say West Michigan is positioning itself to help determine how the technology is used, responsibly.
The university’s College of Computing is launching the West Michigan Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) Consortium, aimed at helping businesses, researchers and the community better understand how to use artificial intelligence.
Right in the heart of Grand Rapids, along the Medical Mile, the consortium will meet at the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH) every week, with quarterly meetings open to the general public.
The effort is aimed at helping West Michigan industries adopt AI that fits their specific needs, while problem-solving for security, bias, privacy, and ethical concerns.
Right in the heart of Grand Rapids, along Medical Mile, the consortium will meet at the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH) every week, with quarterly meetings open to the general public. (Abigail Taylor/WWMT)
Marouane Kessentini, Ph.D, Dean of the GVSU College of Computing told News Channel 3 that a wide range of companies in the region are bringing forward questions of where, and how, to ethically integrate artificial intelligence into their practices.
“Here in West Michigan, we have a high concentration of many industries, health, manufacturing, and of course high-tech companies,” said Kessentini. “The first questions are about security, privacy, ethics and bias. It’s not just about deploying tools. It’s about deploying them responsibly.”
Kessentini said the consortium will focus on training, research and community education, with a heavy emphasis on data privacy, cybersecurity and misinformation.
“There are many examples where AI systems were trained on data that wasn’t diverse,” he said. “That can lead to inaccurate results. That’s why testing and training are critical.”
The consortium will bring together faculty researchers, students, and industry leaders, with weekly meetings planned to develop guidance for using AI at scale.
The goal is to help companies validate AI outputs, clean and manage data, and identify bias before systems are put into real-world use, especially in high-risk industries like healthcare and manufacturing.
Some projects will involve software design, others will focus on creating public data sets that are reliably sourced, but anonymized for safe use, and many more are yet to be ideated.
Some projects will involve software design, others will focus on creating public data sets that are reliably sourced, but anonymized for safe use, and many more are yet to be ideated. (Abigail Taylor/WWMT)
The initiative is backed by $1,031,000 in federal support, through the Community Project Funding (CPF) process, resources that U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03) said she advocated for among members of congress in Washington.
“West Michigan should be leading the way in how artificial intelligence is developed and used, and that starts with investing in people and institutions we trust,” said Rep. Scholten. “This funding will help GVSU bring together educators, industry, and public partners to build AI systems that are ethical, secure, and transparent while preparing students for good-paying jobs and strengthening our region’s economy. I’m proud to support this work and to continue delivering federal investments that ensure West Michigan remains at the forefront of responsible innovation.”
It’s important that AI is useful, but also safe…
GVSU also launched an online certificate portal that is open for community members interested in learning about ethical AI use, for free.
Kessentini said the training is for the general public to learn how to navigate the technology, including the risks and limitations.
“It’s important that AI is useful, but also safe,” said Edgar Cruz, master’s student with a badge in cybersecurity.
Cruz is currently researching how AI systems can be attacked or manipulated with poisoned data, specifically as it relates to vehicle-to-vehicle communication, where AI helps self-driving cars exchange information like speed and position.
“We want to ensure that the system is robust and safe,” he said. “Because obviously people are involved.”
Kessentini said the consortium is designed to be a public resource, not just an academic project.
Quarterly community meetings will be open to the public, and training materials are available online through the College of Computing website.
“This is innovation with purpose,” he said. “We want to start here in Grand Rapids, but we want to make a global impact.”
Jim Harding, Michigan’s new offensive line coach, has one goal coming out of spring practice: he wants to have a set starting five plus a solid sixth lineman for good measure.
Michigan begins spring practice March 17 and concludes with the spring game on April 18.
Harding, appearing on the Michigan in-house podcast, “In the Trenches” hosted by Jon Jansen, joined new Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham’s staff from Utah, where Whittingham was head coach the last 21 years. Harding spoke about a number of topics, including returning to the Midwest — he grew up in Maumee, Ohio, and his wife is from Farmington Hills — and his love for the Detroit Tigers, but most important was his discussion about building the Wolverines’ offensive line.
“I’d like to establish the starting five where you feel good that when you go into fall camp,” Harding said on the podcast that posted Wednesday. “Those are the guys that are working together immediately from Day 1.”
Harding said he uses a sixth lineman — he terms that player the “rhino” — quite a bit and would like to have at least two ready to go. The Wolverines also need depth at center considering only Jake Guarnera has snapped in a game.
“And then just having that physicality, nastiness of the offensive line,” Harding said. “Just kind of develop that.”
Since arriving earlier this year at Michigan, Harding said he’s been impressed by the linemen and their desire to work hard on conditioning and developing their craft by asking questions and wanting feedback. They have gone to dinner as a group to get to know each other away from the facility, and Harding has enjoyed the process.
“The things that you can’t measure right now is our physicality or our toughness, things like that,” Harding said. “I’m confident that it won’t be an issue, but that’s kind of the next step once we get pads on, (finding out) who are kind of the Alpha dogs in the room that are going to set the tone for the unit, and then, obviously, the offense. But really pleased with what I’ve seen so far.”
Harding shared offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s approach to installing the offense.
“The way (Beck) runs it, everything’s on the table Day 1 in practice,” Harding said on the podcast. “So we’ll get a script with, if you count red zone, probably 60 or so plays, and any play can be called. It’s really unique, and I’d never done it this way, but Coach Beck, actually calls it like he does in the game. There are no scripts, and so we’ll just move the ball down the field, and if it’s a third play and it’s third and 3, well he’s going to call a third-and-3 call.
“So you really have to have the kids prepared for all 60 of those. And then the next day there’ll be maybe different formations and things like that once we get the concepts down in the O-line room for the run game. Now it’s just a matter of dressing up different things. It’s a lot of stuff early on, because every run scheme we have could be called on that first day, every pass protection we have could be called on that first day. So it’s a front-loaded installation.”
achengelis@detroitnews.com
@chengelis
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