2B - Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2B - Tuesday, April 19, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily
University Michigan alum and assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan Andrew Shirvell voices concerns about Michigan Student Assembly president
Chris Armstrong.
Assistant attorney general
criticizes MSA president
Alum Andrew
Shirvell decries
Armstrong's 'radical
homosexual agenda'
By DEVON THORSBY
Daily News Editor
Sept. 14, 2010 - An assistant
attorney general in the appellate
division for Michigan Attorney
General Mike Cox is inserting
himself into politics on campus.
University alum Andrew
Shirvell has been actively speak-
ing out against Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly President Chris
Armstrong since shortly after
his election in March. Shirvell
has periodically appeared at
various campus events to protest
Armstrong's presidency. He also
maintains a controversial blog
called "Chris Armstrong Watch,"
where he criticizes what he calls
the MSA president's "radical
homosexual agenda."
Officials at the Attorney Gener-
al's office confirmed that Shirvell
works for Cox and that they are
aware of his public disapproval
of Armstrong, including the blog.
Officials also said on Wednes-
day that they would provide The
Michigan Daily with a statement
on the issue, but despite several
follow-up inquiries over four
business days, a statement was
never received.
Shirvell declined to comment
in an e-mail interview last month
about whether his decision to
speak out against Armstrong has
affected his work for an elected
official.
In the inaugural post on Chris
Armstrong Watch in late April,
Shirvell wrote aboutArmstrong's
election and his campaign to
become MSA president. The first
post was accompanied by a photo
of Armstrong that has "Resign"
written over his face and a rain-
bow flag with a swastika in the
middle of it next to him.
In that post, Shirvell pointed
out Armstrong's time serving as
chairman of MSA's LGBT com-
mission, which Shirvell describes
as "a commission that solely
focused on utilizing the student
government to promote the radi-
cal homosexual agenda, includ-
ing gay 'marriage' and adoption
'rights."
"Armstrong's radical agenda
includes mandating 'gender-neu-
tral' housing," Shirvell also wrote
in the post, "so that cross-dress-
ing students will not have to share
a dorm room with a member of
the same sex. This proposal, how-
ever, endangers female students,
as it will also force heterosexu-
als of different genders to share
the same room and will undoubt-
edly lead to a massive increase in
rapes."
When Armstrong arrived on
campus this fall, Shirvell wrote
a post on Sept.1 entitled "What's
Past is Prologue: Armstrong's
VIOLENT Supporters & the
Coming Persecution this Fall."
In that post, Shirvell warned
"...if events this past spring and
summer are indicative of what's
to come this fall when Armstrong
is called out in public about his
outright lies, then Christian, pro-
life, and minority students on
campus shouldbe aware thatthey
willbe VIOLENTLYpersecuted."
Another post in early Sep-
tember criticized Armstrong's
comments at New Student Con-
vocation. At the event, Armstrong
told the new students in atten-
dance that their "time here in
Ann Arbor is as much about your
own self-discovery as it is about
your career."
On his blog, Shirvell described
that comment by writing, "It is
clear that Armstrong's remarks
constituted nothing more than
a thinly veiled attempt to cause
sexually confused, and perhaps
some impressionable, 17-and-18-
year-olds to experiment sexually
with members of their own gen-
der."
Other blog posts have been
entitled "Chris Armstrong: The
PRIVILEGED Pervert" and
"Chris Armstrong & His Bull-
horn: Portrait of a Radical Homo-
sexual Activist at Work."
In the interests of decency, the
Daily decided not to publish some
of the most inflammatory passag-
es from the blog.
At last week's MSA meeting,
Shirvell called on Armstrong to
resign during the community
concerns portion of the meeting,
criticizing his affiliation with
senior society Order of Angell. In
particular, Shirvell accuses Arm-
strong of lying during his cam-
paign about his intention to join
Order of Angell.
"Even the first gay MSA presi-
dent is corrupted by his power,"
he said at the MSA meeting. "You
all should impeach him."
The society, formerly known as
Michigamua, has been criticized
for allegedly using Native Ameri-
canartifactsas partofitsmeetings
and rituals in the past. In 2007, the
organization formallytchanged its
name, and in an effort to become
more transparent, began publish-
ing a list of its members and mak-
ing its records available to the
public. Its meetings and activities,
however, remain secretive.
Tuesday night's meeting
wasn't the first time Shirvell
showed up at a campus event to
criticize Armstrong. In May, stu-
dents, LGBT rights activists and
community members gathered
outside the Walgreen Drama Cen-
ter on North Campus to countera
protest by the Westboro Baptist
Church. The church had planned
to stage a protest against a pro-
duction of "The Laramie Proj-t
ect," a play that centers around
the murder of Matthew Shepard,
an openly gay student who was
beaten to death in 1998.
Though the church's protestors
never showed, the counter-pro-
test continued anyway, with signs
calling for love and acceptance.
Shirvell, photographed by
Daily photographers and identi-
fied in a May 20 article on Pride-
Source.com, also attended the
protest, following Armstrong and
holding a sign accusing him of
racism.
Witnesses reported that when
Armstrong addressed the crowd,
Shirvell attempted to speak over
him with accusations that Arm-
strong lied to the University com-
munity.
FiNANCING YOUR EDUCATION
Gov. Granhomsigns law
to cut Promise scholarship
Upwards of 96,000
students lose state
funding
ByMATT AARONSON
Daily NewsEditor
Nov. 2, 2009 - Gov. Jennifer
Granholm signed into law Fri-
day the final six bills of a budget
that showed the wear and tear
of a legislature crippled by par-
tisan battles over how to solve
the state's many problems.
For the University, the budget
bears bad news on two fronts:
eliminating the popular Michi-
gan Promise Scholarship pro-
gram and once again cutting
back state funding provided to
the University.
The Michigan Promise Schol-
arship provides tuition money to
more than 96,000 Michigan col-
lege students. Performance on a
merit exam given in high school
determines the amount a stu-
dent receives, which can total
anywhere from $500 to $4,000
over four years.
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald told the Daily last
month that an estimated 6,096
students at the University of
Michigan would be eligible for
Promise grants this academic
year.
These students now have to
find another way to fill that gap
in their tuition costs.
Phil Hanlon, vice provost for
academic and budgetary affairs,
told the Daily in late September
that, unsure about the Prom-
ise Scholarship program's fate,
"the University set aside some
one-time funds ... to fill these
expected financial aid gaps."
Also in late September, Cyn-
thia Wilbanks, the University's
vice president for government
relations, told the Daily that the
University would fill that void
for students with demonstrated
financial aid need if the Promise
Scholarship was cut.
"We have committed to
meeting the full financial need
and we have been prudent in
the way we have budgeted so
that we will have resources for
those students who have the
financial need and as of now, do
not appear to be receiving the
Promise grants," she said in late
September.
Earlier this month, after a
letter to state legislators from
a business advocacy group
encouraging lawmakers to pass
a budget proposalthat cut the
Promise Scholarship bore her
name on the letterhead, Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Cole-
man issued a statement in which
she distanced herself from the
recommendation.
She wrote: "It is in the best
interests of the state to look to
the long term and focus on the
highest priorities - including
higher education - as we lay the
groundwork for the future."
On that higher education
front, the budget signed into law
Friday provides $325,347,400
in state appropriations for the
University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor for the coming fiscal year.
This represents a drop of
around .4 percent from last
year's funding, but beat earlier
University projections by 2.8
percent. Those projections had
estimated state funding to drop
to $316,572,000 for fiscal year
2010.
The amount of state funding
influences the make-up of the
rest of the University's budget,
from the funding of different
schools and academic programs
to student tuition levels. But offi-
cials are quick to note that they
have very carefully accounted
for potential drops in state fund-
ing while crafting budgets in
recent years.
Marking a continued reli-
ance on cost cutting and tuition
increases to fill the state fund-
ing void, state appropriations
account for 21.75 percent of rev-
enues in the University's Gen-
eral Fund budget proposal for
fiscal year 2010. In that same
budget, tuition and fees account
for 65.19 percent.
From fiscal year 2003 to fiscal
year 2004, state funding for the
University experienced a free
fall, plummeting by about 10
percent - or $36,356,600.
Since then, the appropria-
tions have hovered mostly in the
$320-$330 million range.
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