(!) Welcome by J.McDowell on Monday, February 08, 2010 at 12:52 PM

Welcome Howell High School students from Mr. Marek's, Ms. Steele's, and Mr. McDowell's classes!

(!) Voting ends in Health by Gary Weisserman on Saturday, February 06, 2010 at 9:13 AM

The voting has ended in the "Health" topic. Topic coordinators are asked to select the two or three top resolutions, allowing for common sense and/or referring duplicate or strongly related resolutions to their authors to be combined and "cleaned up," preferably within the next few days ...!

(!) Bug fixed by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, February 03, 2010 at 11:33 AM

Just FYI--the bug that was preventing people from "weighting" the Environment and Science topic has been resolved. If you encounter any more problems, please let us know ... thanks!

(!) Calendar updates, new Town Meeting date by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, February 03, 2010 at 6:47 AM

Several reminders today:

First, the Poverty topic opens for brainstorming discussion today. At the same time, voting in Health is beginning to wind down, as is resolution construction in Education. Lots going on!

Also, the Justice and Security topic coordinators have announced their town meeting guest and date: on February 10 at 6:00 PM in room 2224 School of Education Building, they will be hosting Sgt. Jason Forsberg of the University's police department. Sgt. Forsberg grew up in Michigan and has a bachelor's degree in Psychology. He attended the Washtenaw Police Academy and has worked for DPS for 14 years. He has been a police patrol officer, a detective and he is currently a police sergeant. His current duties include supervising officers on the day shift, coordinating our community policing program, and coordinating the K9 unit. See you then!

(!) Reminder: Town Meeting, February 2, 2010 by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Just a reminder: The Education and the Arts topic coordinators have announced a Town Meeting on Tuesday, February 2, at 6:30 PM in room 2302 of the School of Education Building. Our guest will be Professor Kai Cortina, an Associate Professor of Psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. Topic coordinators have asked those in attendance to be present at 6:30 sharp. See you then!

(!) Town Meeting: TOMORROW by Gary Weisserman on Monday, February 01, 2010 at 9:42 AM

The Education and the Arts topic coordinators have announced a Town Meeting on Tuesday, February 2, at 6:30 PM in room 2302 of the School of Education Building.

Our guest will be Professor Kai Cortina. Per the coordinators, "Dr. Cortina is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. His research is based around a lot of the topics that have been discussed on the discussion board. He has particularly focused his training in the cognitive and psychological development of adolescence and in analyzing and evaluating teaching practice. We have met with him and got him acquainted with the website and he is very eager to re-acquaint himself with some of the major topics in this section and speak before the Michigan Student Caucus."

We hope to see you there!

(!) Vote vote vote, and more vote by Gary Weisserman on Friday, January 29, 2010 at 10:33 AM

Just a reminder: voting (and discussion about voting) is open in Health, and resolution construction is open in Poverty ...

(!) Health proposals and more by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:19 AM

Remember, today is the LAST DAY to publish proposals for Health, including consultations. Tomorrow, the topic will move into voting. It's probably a good idea for everyone to update their weights now, before you vote.

Education and the Arts will move out of brainstorming tomorrow and into resolution construction. And just around the corner is brainstorming for Poverty ...

Topic coordinators, please remember to get us information regarding Town Meetings as soon as possible!

(!) Another reminder ... by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 6:24 AM

... that Resolution construction in Health ends the 28th. If you have any resolutions for inclusion, get them in now! Remember, too, the author of each clause should upload their own work ...

(!) Resolution construction begins in Health by Gary Weisserman on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 6:30 AM

Just a reminder that the resolution construction phase has begun in the Health topic, meaning our focus in that area goes from brainstorming to actual resolution construction. Remember that all resolutions must be connected to expert consultations! Also remember that all clauses should be submitted by their authors, respectively.

(!) Town Hall Meetings by JMcDowell on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 7:39 PM

The first Town Hall meeting of the semester was fantastic. Congrats to the topic coordinators for Health!
Below you will find some guidelines that were put together last semester by our Grad Assistant Wade Merrill. They should serve as a simple reminder as you work to put together and host your town hall meeting.



Thoughts on Hosting Effective Town Hall Meetings

As you plan these events for your fellow students throughout the semester, it may be helpful to keep some of the following guidelines in mind in. Following these will hopefully produce the most effective use of everyone’s time, help the guest speakers / panelists and ensure that everyone gets as much as possible out of the experience.

Plan Ahead

* Make sure to give at least a week to ten days notice to all students and others you hope to have attend, at least two weeks for a speaker / panelist. Make sure the location, the topic and biographies of participants are published to the group to help drum up interest.
* Select a room for the event that is appropriately sized and furnished for what you expect.



Prepare the Speaker / Panelist

* Take the time to share with the guest exactly what MSC is and what you hope to accomplish at the event. The sooner you get them this information, the more comfortable and prepared they are likely to be.
* Make sure they know how formal or informal you plan to have it be and ask if they would like and A/V equipment, copies of hand outs or other specialized materials.



General Guidelines for Coordinators

* Prepare introductions: Not every participant needs to introduce themselves, but the Coordinators should definitely make themselves known and should also prepare short but informative and polite introductions for the guests.
* Be prepared with conversation starters in case things do not naturally flow out of the group. If participants are slow to engage the speaker / panel, make sure you have a list of key points you think should be discussed during the event and ideas on how to get the ball rolling. Don’t be afraid to employ a gimmick or make it fun, as long as it remains appropriately academic.
* Take notes throughout the event so you can provide a succinct review at the end of the session as well as a summary to share with those who could not attend (as well as the video version of the event).



Follow Up

* Make sure to issue “Thank yous” to any speakers or contributors. This can be as simple as an email, but the recognition may go a long way in the future.



Please feel free to let us know if we can help in any way.

(!) Education and the Arts brainstorming; Health resolutions; first Town Meeting by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 6:37 AM

Brainstorming is now open for Education and the Arts! Topic coordinators, we look forward to you moderating the discussion, and to information about your upcoming town meeting.

Resolution construction in the Health topic will begin tomorrow, meaning brainstorming will close, and attention should then be given to turning our ideas into actual legislation. Please remember that expert consultations are a required part of any good resolution.

Finally, congratulations to our Health topic coordinators Ariel Halperin, Mollie Coleman, and Ally Washarawsky. Professor McDowell reliably informs us that yesterday's Town Meeting with Dr. Jack Billi, the Associate Dean and Vice President of the UM Health System Leadership Team, was outstanding--we look forward to seeing the video!

(!) Schedule reminders by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 6:47 PM

Remember, brainstorming continues in Health through the 21st, after which we move to the resolution construction portion of the topic. Education and the Arts opens for brainstorming on the 20th, meaning we'll begin having to "multi-task" multiple topics at once!

(!) Just a reminder ... by Gary Weisserman on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 5:15 PM

... to topic coordinators to begin arranging your Town Hall meetings as soon as possible! We begin the Poverty brainstorming in just a few days. Brainstorming in Health, meanwhile, continues until the 21st, after which we begin to move into resolution construction ...

(!) Town Hall Meeting: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by Gary Weisserman on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 12:10 PM

There will be a Health town hall meeting held on Tuesday, January 19th at 5:30 PM in room 2229 in the School of Education Building. Dr. Jack Billi, the Associate Dean and Vice President of the UM Health System Leadership Team will be joining us. The town hall meeting will be moderated by Health topic coordinators Ariel Halperin, Mollie Coleman, and Ally Washarawsky. See you then!

Coordinators, please remember to tape and/or transcript the event, and to take attendance at the event for any EDU 362 students present.

(!) Good start to the session! by Gary Weisserman on Friday, January 15, 2010 at 9:11 AM

Just a note to say the opening of the session has been great--we've been very impressed with the quality of initial discussion in the Health area, and we're looking forward to more and more members joining the dialogue!

(!) Tentative date for MSC Spring Hearings by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 2:08 PM

Our tentative date for the MSC Spring Legislative Hearings is April 20, 2010, from 9:00-11:30 AM in the room 426 of the Capitol Building. As always, this is subject to change due to legislative emergencies, but please note this on your calendars!

State Representative Rebecca Warren of the 53rd District will chair the hearings, and will be joined by colleagues from the House, Senate, Executive branch, and state agencies.

(!) Information for EDU 362 students by Gary Weisserman on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 10:07 AM

Just a note that overrides have been issued for students who attended last night's orientation. You will still need to login to Wolverine Access and add yourselves to the course. Please let us know if you have any questions.

(!) Topic coordinators by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 8:15 PM

Congratulations to our Winter 2010 Topic Coordinators:

Health:

Ariel Halperin
Mollie Coleman
Ally Washarawsky

Education and Arts:

Adam Lynn
Jason Javer
Daniel Fetner

Poverty:

Andrew Guthrie
Justin Grischkan
Brian Carlin

Environment and Science:

Gillian Gorge
Stephanie Nosan
Stephanie Brigstock

Justice and Security:

Rose Friedlander
Kasey Rothkopf

Service:

Jenna Carpel
Aaron Sklar

Additionally, our Public Relations liaisons will be Samantha Zach and Michael Belanovsky.

Discussion is open immediately in Health. See you all in the Brainstorming area!

(!) Welcome to Winter Session 2010! by Gary Weisserman on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 11:26 AM

Welcome, everyone, to the Winter 2010 Session of the Michigan Student Caucus! We are tremendously excited about these upcoming sessions, and looking forward to working with you all!

Just FYI, the site will be "opened" for business, officially, beginning this evening, meaning participants may login and begin deliberations. Our first topic this session is Health in Michigan, which includes a variety of sub-topics, ranging from health care, preventative medicine, insurance, environmental issues, health education, and much more.

As always, deliberations will begin with the brainstorming and open discussion phase, then will move to resolution construction and, finally, voting. Be sure to check the calendar below for more information!

(!) Mandatory MSC Winter 2010 Meeting by Gary Weisserman on Tuesday, January 05, 2010 at 8:15 AM

There will be a MANDATORY orientation session for EDU 362, Michigan Student Caucus, for Professors Weisserman, McDowell and Kupperman, will be held at Schorling Auditorium in the School of Education on Jan 13th from 6:30-8:30.

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

Following the orientation, we will be addressing those students who need overrides. We are not yet sure how many we will be able to accommodate, but will do our best to help as many students as possible.

Technical notes:

The new Michigan Student Caucus site is still in beta. Thanks for your patience in helping us make it better!

At the moment, you'll need the Firefox or Safari browser to be able to access all site capabilities (we strongly recommend Firefox for all platforms). Until further announcement, assigning weights to topics and the "drag and drop" features used while editing proposals do not work in Internet Explorer. We are working on the issue and hope to resolve it soon.

Technical update: A problem has been found in Safari as well. When you upload media files, Safari will not refresh the page properly. For the time being, if you must use Safari, you may need to click on a tab again to refresh. We are aware of the problem and are looking for a fix.

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 advisors at The University of Michigan, Professors Gary Weisserman and 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:

• The MSC archives from Winter 2009, Fall 2008 and Winter 2008. (You'll need to join the archived sites separately to view content.)
• 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.
• Students taking this course for college credit at UM-Ann Arbor may download the Winter 2010 syllabus for EDUC 362.
• Similarly, students taking this course for graduate credit at UM-Flint may download the Fall 2009 syllabus for EDT 532.
• 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 (schedule subject to change):

Health (Health): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 12, 2010 and ends on January 21, 2010; resolution construction begins on January 22, 2010 and ends on January 28, 2010; voting on submitted resolutions begins on January 29, 2010 and ends on February 5, 2010.

Education and the Arts (Ed & Arts): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on January 20, 2010 and ends on January 29, 2010; resolution construction begins on January 29, 2010 and ends on February 5, 2010; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 5, 2010 and ends on February 15, 2010.

Poverty (Poverty): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 3, 2010 and ends on February 13, 2010; resolution construction begins on February 14, 2010 and ends on February 20, 2010; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 21, 2010 and ends on March 1, 2010.

Environment and Science (Env & Sci): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 10, 2010 and ends on February 19, 2010; resolution construction begins on February 20, 2010 and ends on February 27, 2010; voting on submitted resolutions begins on February 28, 2010 and ends on March 8, 2010.

Justice and Security (Just & Sec): Open brainstorming for resolutions begins on February 17, 2010 and ends on February 26, 2010; resolution construction begins on February 27, 2010 and ends on March 8, 2010; voting on submitted resolutions begins on March 9, 2010 and ends on March 18, 2010.

Service schedule:

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

Winter 2010 (Service): Open brainstorming for service projects begins on March 8, 2010 and ends on March 17, 2010; construction of service proposals begins on March 18, 2010 and ends on March 26, 2010; participants may commit to a service project beginning on March 27, 2010 through April 4, 2010. Service projects will take place between April 4, 2010 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.