Michigan lawmakers should be given the chance to vote on the way the state’s major universities are governed and how candidates for key offices are selected.
A joint resolution is pending in the Legislature to replace the elected boards at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University with trustees appointed by the governor.
It would also move the nomination of secretary of state and attorney general candidates away from partisan conventions and to the August primary.
Both measures would require voter approval. But first, lawmakers must pass the joint resolution to put them on the ballot. Doing so this week would place the issues before voters in the August 4 primary. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait for the more crowded general election in November.
Michigan is an outlier in allowing AG and secretary of state nominations to be the exclusive responsibility of partisan nominating conventions, where the ideological fringes of both parties have out-sized influence. Selecting the candidates via the ballot box would help assure voters have more broadly representative choices.
Changing university governance is particularly urgent. All three schools have seen a revolving door of presidents, in part due to friction with their boards. Last week, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz resigned to take the helm at Clemson University, citing an “unsustainable” situation at MSU.
So now Michigan State is looking for its seventh president in the past eight years.
Even before Guskiewicz’s resignation, a drive was underway to place a proposal on the ballot to align the three research universities with the other 12 public colleges in Michigan, all of which have boards appointed by the governor. Michigan is one of only four states where university boards are elected through a statewide vote.
The bipartisan effort, led by former Govs. John Engler, a Republican, and Jim Blanchard, a Democrat, would create nine-member boards (they currently have eight members) with members appointed to a single eight-year term. No party would be allowed to hold more than five spots on a board.
The measure should be improved by lawmakers through the addition of an independent commission to vet potential board members and make recommendations to the governor. The commission should serve all 15 universities. A commission would guard against patronage and help assure universities get the expertise they need.
It’s also important that language be added to place universities fully under the state’s Open Meetings and Freedom of Information acts. Courts have eroded transparency requirements over the years. They should be restored.
Getting the proposal on the ballot will require a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate. Backers believe they have the votes in the Legislature needed for passage.
But Matt Hall, speaker of the Republican-controlled House, has so far refused to permit a vote, even though the measure, when fully implemented, would double the GOP’s current representation on the university boards.
Hall should not stand in the way of common sense, good government reforms. He should bring the resolution to a vote in the House today.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Speaker Hall should put appointed university boards to a vote | Our View
Reporting by The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
