THE PUBLIC MIND: COLUMN ON TARGET: REGENTS HAVE DUTY TO DEBATE ISSUES

letter from shelton

To the Editor:

After reading Mark Bliss's recent appraisal of the role played by the current Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents, I must say that I concur with his opinions absolutely, completely and wholeheartedly. Inasmuch as my husband has been on the university faculty since Dr. Mark Scully's tenure, I, along with many other wives and faculty members, have witnessed the transition of a once forceful, vital group to the present rubber-stamp cluster.

We have seen changes in programs and curricula - not always for the better - and we have seen needed teachers sacrificed for additional administrators. There is a standing joke among university faculty to the effect that the Indians are outnumbered by the chiefs. Together we have wondered on many occasions why the Board of Regents remained silent on various pertinent issues.

Certainly, the increasing number of regulations imposed by both state and federal governments through the years, as Mr. Bliss observed, has served to weaken the present board. But, as he also carefully noted, the regents have a responsibility to discuss, debate, consider, weigh and just maybe disagree with some of the proposals placed before them by university administrators. Mr. Bliss's concluding statement could not have been more aptly phrased: "A silent board is little better than no board at all."

Name withheld by request