On Oct. 15, the Lanthorn participated in a conference call with Gov. Rick Snyder. The following is what Gov. Snyder had to say about Grand Valley State University.

Opening Address:

Gov. Snyder: “In terms of what we’ve accomplished in the past few years, one of the key highlights has been creating more job opportunities for young people in particular. We’ve added 300,000 private sector jobs and are adding a lot of innovative programs to encourage young people to stay in our state. Career tech education in particular in the area is something we’re looking at. I want to highly encourage dual enrollment to make college more affordable for people so they can get college credit while they’re still in high school. People are wanting to be in Michigan, stay in Michigan and have a great life here. I’m excited about the accomplishments there.

Q: GVSU is a quickly growing university. Are there plans to accommodate this growth with a re-appropriation of state funding to public universities due to our change in enrollment?

A: Grand Valley is growing so fast, and you are at the lower end of funding, and actually, the formulas we put in action actually gain weight when schools are more efficient and better performing. Grand Valley has typically been at the higher end for having a lower appropriation of funding. They’ve been at the higher end in terms of graduation rates, achievements, cost and everything else, so I think I would have to go double check the numbers. I would imagine your school has done well with respect to the formulas and weighting that we’ve had over the last few years, and you’ve really set some benchmarks to encourage that kind of great performance. You should be proud, you’re at a school that’s one of the most efficient.

Q: What is Michigan doing to prevent sexual assault on college campuses?

A: We have legislation in the works to deal with the overall problem of sexual assault in the state of Michigan, and we’re moving ahead with that. There’s a whole package of bills that are actually being signed today and tomorrow that deal with human trafficking and further address concerns about sexual assault. We’re trying to gather data and work with the higher education communities and see what the situation is and how we can make college campuses safer.

Q: What are your views on a liberal arts education considering Michigan’s recovering economy?

A: A liberal education teaches you some things like the concept of being a great writer and being an analytical thinker, which are all very relevant things, and we always need to have people look at that as an option.