According to the michigan.gov webpage, the following is true:

"The Board of Regents is the governing body of Eastern Michigan University. Its current format was created when the State of Michigan ratified a new constitution Jan. 6, 1964. The Board comprises eight regents who are appointed to eight-year terms by the Governor."

Here is an example of one of our Regents, Michelle Crumm (bio from board of regents webpage):

"Michelle Crumm was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder in December 2014 to replace Francine Parker, whose term expired. She is appointed for a term expiring December 31, 2022. She serves as chair of Educational Policies committee, and serves as Founder/CEO of Present Value executive coaching company. As a high energy, serial entrepreneur, Michelle is accomplished in helping leadership teams develop and implement strategy.

As co-founder and chief business officer of Adaptive Materials, Inc., Michelle's leadership was instrumental in helping the fuel cell company transition from start-up to second stage, fast-growing advanced manufacturing company. Grown and built in to a successful fuel cell manufacturing company, Adaptive Materials, Inc. was acquired by defense industry giant Ultra Electronics in 2011. Since that time, Michelle has actively participated in many other start-ups as a founder and/or investor and currently has ownership is many local companies.

Widely recognized for her leadership, Michelle was named "Executive of the Year" from Ann Arbor.com, "Most Influential Women" by Crain's Detroit Business, and one of Enterprising Women's "Women of the Year." She was also awarded the prestigious title "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst and Young. During her 12 years leading Adaptive Materials, Adaptive Materials was recognized for its dynamic growth with Ann Arbor SPARK FastTrack, Inc. 5,000, and Inc. 100 Energy Company awards.

As a dynamic community participant, Michelle serves on the Board of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. She is the Vice Chair for the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, Chair of the Capital Campaign for Arbor Hospice, and Chair of the Capital Campaign and former Chair of the Board for Emerson Schools. She is an enthusiastic participant of Women's President Organization and Women in Public Policy.

Prior to founding Adaptive Materials, Michelle spent nearly 5 years at Kellogg Company. During her tenure at Kellogg, she was able to accelerate her career with experiences in internal audit, investor relations, and procurement. In addition to Kellogg Company, Michelle has served as an accountant at an automotive supplier and obtained her Certified Public Accountant license while working as an auditor with Plante and Moran.

Michelle earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Purdue University and a master of business administration degree from University of Michigan. She serves as Chair of the Education Policies Committee."

Where in this biography do you see anything significantly related to education?  Another example, Dr. Fitzsimmons, who is the chair of the Student Affairs committee, founded Information Strategists, LLC, in 1987, a company that provides information services for high tech companies. Clients include scientists, engineers, marketing specialists and executives of major U.S. corporations. What on earth does this have to do with education OR student affairs??  The governing body of EMU is comprised of mostly business persons, CEOs, and financial officers.

Their influence is felt more and more acutely as our school becomes run like a business more so than a school.  More students coming in and prices and fees going up.  The beginning of the 2015 academic year saw the second largest incoming freshman class in the history of the university and we had a nearly 8% increase in tuition and it was just announced that the cost of on-campus housing will increase next school year.  Our school, our community, and Detroit's public schools and communities can no longer sustain these political appointees who control our university, our policies, and who refuse to withdraw from the EAA even amid controversy and petition.  

Not only Eastern, but also Central, Northern, and Western Michigan Universities all have the very governing bodies of their schools appointed by the governor, NOT democratically elected.

Our school has a large population of low-income students, yet we're governed by millionaires.

This must end.  

We call on the Michigan Legislature to amend the state of Michigan's constitution and allow not only EMU, but all colleges and universities in the state to democratically elect their own board of regents. We call on the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents, comprised mostly of persons most notable for business entrepreneurship, to resign effective immediately as they were not chosen by the people and they clearly do not stand for the people. We demand that a totally new board be democratically elected by the people with a committee which includes both students and faculty.