NO NEED FOR FACULTY REPS ON REGENT BOARDS

A proposal in the Missouri Legislature would put a faculty representative on several state university boards of regents. The idea has gone far enough to earn approval in the Missouri House.

It's time to derail this speeding train.

Don't misunderstand. Good communication among university administrators, boards of regents, faculty and students is vital. But placing a faculty representative on a board of regents is unnecessary.

Already, a student representative sits on boards at state universities and college boards. The position is non-voting. Quite frankly, there is no good argument for this either.

Appointing students and faculty members as regents may be great public relations, but it's not very practical.

From a business perspective, the regents are the bosses of the university. They hold the purse strings and make final decisions on both spending and programs.

Those kind of decisions are not always popular, especially when they affect personnel. People costs are always a big chunk of any university or college budget. Putting a faculty member on the board would represent a gigantic conflict of interest.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, president of Southeast Missouri State University, feels there should be a "separation of powers." He makes a good point. Students or employees shouldn't have voting powers on a governing board. Then what purpose does it serve for them to be non-voting members?

Many opportunities for communication already exist between the regents and faculty. Regent meetings are open to faculty members, students and the public.

The proposed bill would allow both student and faculty representatives to attend closed sessions unless the rest of the board voted unanimously to exclude them. If the representatives attended closed sessions, the danger would be that they would share confidential information with their constituencies. If the board voted them out of the meeting, just think of the antagonism that would spark. Regents would be left in a lose-lose situation.

If faculty members are approved for a spot on the board, what's to say other university groups won't demand the same status, including clerical and professional staff? Larger and larger boards can become unmanageable.

The Missouri Senate should look long and hard at this proposal when it hits the floor. This piece of legislation is not the way to achieve better lines of communication between university regents and faculty members.