Free journey, occasional seats to MSU sports activities a perk for unpaid trustees

Michigan State University trustees are elected to their place realizing that the gig is unpaid. But the place can include high-profile perks, together with entry to among the college’s most in-demand sporting occasions, like March Madness and NCAA hockey playoffs. 

This weekend, each MSU males’s hockey and males’s basketball are set to play of their respective playoffs. The common decrease bowl ticket on Ticketmaster to observe MSU’s basketball play UConn in Washington D.C., is over $1,200. But if a trustee have been , they may feasibly attend free of private value.

The State News obtained the trustees’ bills since 2023 via a public information request. A development emerged: collectively, journey to MSU sporting occasions is likely one of the most expensed classes. 

Since 2023, the board has expensed $77,509 in journey to sporting occasions, accounting for a portion of the $151,194 complete, which incorporates journey for board conferences and different college capabilities.

During her tenure as board chair in 2025, Trustee Kelly Tebay expensed over $13,050 in journey to video games. Her most costly journey was see the Spartan soccer staff face the University of Southern California, costing the MSU $2,683.60. The subsequent three most costly journeys have been to observe males’s basketball play within the Sweet Sixteen, the Maui Invitational and a visit to Chicago to observe males’s ice hockey. 

Since 2023, Trustee Renee Knake Jefferson trails behind Tebay with $12,485 expensed. Trustee Dennis Denno is available in third with $10,372. 

The journey expensed by Tebay to attend sporting occasions in 2025 was a departure from earlier board chairs’ spending patterns.

Trustee Rema Vassar spent $1,839 on touring to sports activities video games as chair all through 2023, whereas the following yr, Board Chair Dan Kelly, who took over for Vassar when she resigned in March 2024, expensed simply over $250 on journey for sports activities. 

Part of the board of trustees’ duties is to be an envoy for the University. Vice President of Communications Emily Guerrant mentioned attending video games is simply part of that responsibility. 

“When Board members do travel for a game or an event, there’s often also another event,” Guerrant mentioned. “It’s not just a game, there could be an alumni gathering, fundraising event or meeting with donors.” 

An instance of such donors the trustees may very well be charged with courting are longtime donors, Greg and Dawn Williams. Before making their record-breaking $401 million donation to MSU, the couple may very well be seen sitting courtside at males’s basketball video games. 

For away video games in the course of the common season, MSU receives a restricted variety of tickets from the establishment internet hosting the sport, MSU Athletics Spokesperson Matthew Larson wrote to The State News. But for NCAA-hosted occasions, like tonight’s matchup in opposition to UConn, every faculty will get a chosen variety of tickets. These are the tickets MSU has to disperse amongst trustees, Guerrant mentioned.

Judith Wilde is a analysis professor at George Mason University and has spent over 10 years researching numerous elements of public college presidents. Wilde mentioned the apply of trustees attending video games on behalf of their establishment is commonplace however not all the time justified. 

“It’s commonplace for all kinds of administrators at the university to get tickets to games,” Wilde mentioned, and later added. “I don’t really see the purpose of having the trustees go.” 

Wilde added that such entry might perform as an off-the-cuff type of compensation. 

“It’s not really payment, but it’s kind of in lieu of payment,” Wilde mentioned. “It’s to acknowledge their service to the university. It might be what the university is trying to do.” 

The State News inquired every trustee a number of instances for touch upon whether or not they could be in attendance on the males’s basketball sport on Friday; two responded. Rema Vassar mentioned she wouldn’t be attending the basketball sport on Friday. 

MSU Spokesperson Amber McCann shared an announcement on behalf of Board chair Brianna Scott writing, “As members of the Board of Trustees, it is our privilege to attend a variety of events, including sporting events, engaging with student organizations, community outreach opportunities on behalf of MSU, conferences to help expand our skills in support of the university, and campus events that highlight the many contributions of rich and varied communities that make MSU their home.” 

Scott mentioned she wouldn’t be attending the lads’s basketball sport on Friday both. 

“Our work as ambassadors for MSU is one of the most rewarding opportunities we have during our tenure on the Board,” Scott wrote.