Monday, September 28, 1998
Board of Education
STRUCTURE: Most members of the UC Board of Regents have
experience in business and politics, not education, and an
increasingly diverse student population questions the regents’
response to campus issues
By Shannan Rouss
Daily Bruin Contributor
While most students would be hard-pressed to name even one
member of the University of California Board of Regents, the
board’s presence reigns high above the university’s academia.
When challenged to cite a regent, fourth-year sociology student
Andrea Ginsburg asked, "Other than Ward Connerly?"
Although Connerly, notorious as a staunch opponent of
affirmative action, is often the only identifiable name among
students, Regent Velma Montoya said the regents’ obscurity is
positive for the university.
It implies that they "are doing their business as overseers, and
there is no reason to pick anyone out on an individual basis," she
said.
However, some students say the regents are a remote, nondescript
entity that doesn’t always have the best interests of students in
mind.
According to Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC)
President Stacy Lee, the regents are inaccessible and unconcerned
with the students.
"Our representation at (their) table is minimal – if any," she
said.
Like most other states whose universities have a governing board
of regents, the California governor appoints 18 of the 26 board
members to 12-year terms.
Past appointments have garnered criticism for being more
conducive to business incentives than educational ones.
The state university system in Florida conducts their board in a
similar manner, describing the regents "as analogous to a board of
directors of a corporation."
The current chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, Rod Chu, a
former executive whose qualifications include 20 years with
Andersen Consulting, was appointed to "help (the regents) think
‘outside the box.’"
Given the minimal educational experience of many members of the
board, Lee questioned their academic credentials.
"The regents come from the richest tiers of our society," Lee
said.
"(They) are often commenting … on their lack of awareness on
issues they are supposed to make decisions on," she said.
However, according to Richard Novak, director of Public Sector
Programs for the Association of Governing Boards, the regents
should not be from any one constituency or supportive of any single
campus, since "the state-wide interest should be at heart."
"They are in a sense the surrogate for the state," he
continued.
Montoya also said that the board is not a homogenous
bureaucracy.
"More and more (the regents) are becoming diverse," she said,
citing herself and other regents as proof. "I am a Mexican American
from East L.A., (and) I was an associate professor of finance at
Cal Poly Pomona," she said.
Novak suggested that one way to curtail dissatisfaction with the
appointment of regents would be through a third-party screening
committee to approve the governor’s decisions.
Furthermore, Montoya added that, regarding specific matters of
courses and curriculum, the board willingly defers authority on
educational matters to the faculty.
He emphasized the importance of shared governance between the
regents and the faculty, saying "the faculty is granted a
significant amount of control."
Despite this delineation of power, however, the board sometimes
attempts to influence educational policy.
In one instance, Connerly called ethnic studies and ethnic
graduations into question and felt that such practices caused
"balkanization" across UC campuses.
But Regent William Bagley, referring to the aforementioned
topic, said, "Micromanaging is something that this board shouldn’t
be doing," implying that educational decisions were best left to
the academic officials of the university.
According to Student Regent Max Espinoza, some of the
appropriate duties of the regents involve "student fees, the
setting of admissions criteria, enhancing diversity, construction,
(and) setting financial priorities for the university."
Examples on the regents’ agenda for the upcoming year are
discussions regarding the development of a 10th UC campus in the
San Joaquin Valley, tentatively called UC Merced.
Closer to home, the board will continue to oversee the financing
of UCLA’s Northwest Housing and Parking Project currently at a cost
of $81.1 million.
The next meeting of the UC Board of Regents is scheduled for
Oct. 15 in San Francisco.
Related site:
“¢bull;The Regents of the University of California
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