Mississippi's goofy College Board setup - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: May 24, 2005

RE: RE: Mississippi's goofy College Board setup

Date: May 24, 2005

Clemson has its own Board.

There has been some agitation for a system Board of Regents to control Clemson, University of South Carolina, and Medical University of South Carolina. I really hope we never go down that road.

Robert Campbell

Date: May 24, 2005

in florida it is called the florida board of governors. note the following:

"The Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to be the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. Its predecessor, the Florida Board of Regents was abolished by an act of the state legislature which was signed into law by Jeb Bush on July 1, 2001. Bob Graham, a United States Senator from Florida, objected to the abolition of the statewide body, and responded by leading a ballot initiative to restore it. This initiative succeeded in creating what is now called the Florida Board of Governors. It is now ensconsed in the Florida Constitution, and therefore can not be abolished by the legislature without another constitutional amendment.

The Board of Governors has seventeen members, including fourteen appointed by the governor, the Florida Commissioner of Education, the Chair of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates and the President of the Florida Student Association."

Date: May 24, 2005

Do the schools in Florida have their own boards? If so, that's a better setup that what we have in MS.

Date: May 24, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Let the academics govern
"The IHL board has just approved the new governance model that puts a strong commissioner in charge. I support the people like Richard Crofts, Virginia Shanteau Newton and visiting expert Thomas Meredith who helped to develop it. Let's give this system that puts an academic in charge a chance."

I've been here through three commissioners and my outside take is this. In the 80s (more or less) Dr. Thrash was a strong commissioner. He was followed by Layzell (sp?) who was somewhat "weaker" followed by Potter, even weaker.

A second trend dovetailing into the first. A party that's been in power for awhile has learned not to put strong supporters on the fringes of the party in public positions. These folks frequently are loose cannons and have a high probability of embarassing the party. You need moderates with some sense to let the professionals do their work with usually light oversight and to make the "big" decisions when necessary. In the 80s nobody knew who was on the IHL board. Thrash ran the thing day to day and a bunch mildly conservative (by Mississippi standards) board members made some of the larger decisions in such a way that nothing truly awful happened.

A change came with the change at the top. Whatever Fordice's merits or demerits I don't think he understood the game in the sense of the need to put middle-of-the-roaders at IHL. Errors like Roy Klumb didn't catch up with us until the late 90s.

There may be enough institutional memory left to permit a return to a strong commissioner. It seems a bit like back to the 80s to me.

Please feel free to correct errors (facutal or logical). This is more of a "talking point" than any pretense of the truth.

Regards,

Date: May 24, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"in florida it is called the florida board of governors. note the following: "The Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to be the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. Its predecessor, the Florida Board of Regents was abolished by an act of the state legislature which was signed into law by Jeb Bush on July 1, 2001. Bob Graham, a United States Senator from Florida, objected to the abolition of the statewide body, and responded by leading a ballot initiative to restore it. This initiative succeeded in creating what is now called the Florida Board of Governors. It is now ensconsed in the Florida Constitution, and therefore can not be abolished by the legislature without another constitutional amendment. The Board of Governors has seventeen members, including fourteen appointed by the governor, the Florida Commissioner of Education, the Chair of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates and the President of the Florida Student Association.""

Sounds similar to the SUNY system. There was a state wide Board and then each school had a kind of advisory board . . . I jhave forgotten the terminology.

One thing I like here -- the inclusion of Faculty and Student Senate reps.

Date: May 25, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: stephen judd
"
Sounds similar to the SUNY system. There was a state wide Board and then each school had a kind of advisory board . . . I jhave forgotten the terminology.

One thing I like here -- the inclusion of Faculty and Student Senate reps. "

Part of the duties of the president of the University of Iowa faculty senate is to attend the Board of Regents meetings.