Gazette and Standard opinions: Regent shakeup brings risk, opportunity

Friday’s takeover of the Board of Regents leadership shook up the University System. It should concern all Montanans who recognize the essential role higher education must play in our state and our future.

Billings Gazette

For more than a decade, public funding for our universities has stagnated, while costs and enrollment increased. A growing number of Montana students recognize that two-year and four-year college degrees are the path to better jobs.

In the Legislature this year, the University System received no money for its increasing costs, leaving university leaders with funding shortfalls totaling $45 million over the next two years. The system’s response was to propose double-digit tuition increases and some program cuts.

A communications gap between the Board of Regents and the Legislature has worsened. University leaders have sometimes appeared arrogant and pompous. Legislators have repeatedly failed to treat university representatives with respect.

Reached at his Polson law office this week, Regent John Mercer, the leader of the board takeover, said he wants to "use the vast intellectual resources of the University System to solve Montana problems."

Mercer spelled out his ideas for an "new direction" in an item entitled "Agenda for Progress" on the regents’ agenda last week. He summed up his agenda as "an effort to change the culture of higher education governance." He says the Board of Regents’ constitutional responsibility is wider than "caretaker."

He envisions "more of a partnership with the commissioner (of higher education) and the commissioner in a much more central role in leadership of Montana." In the past, Mercer said, "the board pretty much was spoon fed by the administration."

Richard Roehm, the retired military officer from Bozeman, who was ousted by the 4-3 vote in the middle of his term as chairman, predicted last week that the board would become more politicized and that Mercer would engage in more micromanagement of the campuses.

Mercer dismisses fears that he wants to micromanage the system.

"Higher education, if it steps up to the plate, can contribute to the leadership of Montana. I think it’s the missing ingredient to bring all the leaders of Montana together," Mercer said.

The Board of Regents, vested with constitutional authority to govern the University System, must have stability and a vision for quality education. Perhaps the Mercer takeover will put the regents on a pragmatic path toward better communication and cooperation with other parts of state government. That should benefit all of Montana.

When Mercer says he wants options from the university leaders, not a "take it or leave it" proposal, we agree with him. When he says the regents should improve communications with business and with Montana’s congressional delegation, we agree.

But we reserve judgment on this sudden change in the regent leadership. The new chairman, Ed Jasmin, a retired banker who lives in Big Fork, will have to establish and maintain positive working relationships with all seven regents. We have seen in Billings School District 2 how politics can divide and cripple an educational board.

Mercer’s strategy will be a success only if it builds wider support for the University System while meeting the needs of students and the state.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/06/05/build/opinion/edit.inc

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The new board of regents

By Jeff Gibson, Standard Opinion Page Editor

The Board of Regents has new leadership. According to a news story, "critics blame [John] Mercer" for the change.

That’s one way to put it. Others might give Regent Mercer credit for the change.

Regent Ed Jasmin of Bigfork replaced Bozeman’s Richard Roehm as chairman of the board in a recent vote. Student Regent Christian Hur of Missoula is the new vice chairman, replacing Lynn Hamilton of Havre.

Hamilton told a reporter that politics are behind the change and that Montana students will suffer.

We have no idea where the new leadership will take the University System, but you don’t need a crystal ball to tell you there will be some changes. That will be unwelcome to many. Most large organizations are uncomfortable with change, and education systems are more protective of the status quo than most.

And there is no doubt that Mercer is a boat-rocker. He has been since he came on board, and that has bothered some of the others. So unaccustomed to hard questions and disagreement are some regents that one n Hamilton — tried to get the board to adopt a policy of ostracizing members who publicly disagreed with the board or criticized the U system.

Like the previous leadership, the new leaders also believe that the University System has a role in the development of Montana’s economy. There does seem to be a chicken and egg difference. The old leadership felt the system had to have large additional infusions of money, and would then make the economy go. Mercer, at least, seems to believe that the system cannot have a lot of new money until the economy improves.

The minority predicts that the new leadership will micro-manage the system. There is little doubt that the new leaders will be more "hands-on." Whether they will micro-manage might be a matter of opinion, but it’s a sure bet that they will manage on the bigger issues. And that is their job, not the job of the administrators or the commissioner of higher education.

Jasmin indicated that he sees "tax restructuring" as a way to make the economy, and thus the U System, prosper. Tax restructuring, like "tax reform," however, is a code phrase for general sales tax. There would be few better ways for the regents — who are not answerable to the public n to offend a majority of Montanans than to promote a general sales tax. Mercer’s involvement with that, given his party’s long, futile infatuation with a sales tax in the Legislature, where Mercer was speaker of the House, would make the public deeply suspicious. The un-elected regents should stay away from tax policy. It is not their job.

Mercer said the new majority plans to work with business, the U system and government officials. (Don’t forget working people, Mr. Mercer. They pay taxes and tuition, too.)

Mercer has worked for a more activist board since he was appointed. Now we’ll see how effective it is.

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2003/06/06/newsopinion_top/hjjgjdjdjbidjh.txt