UMN Board of Regents election remains influential – and political

CATHY WURZER: A pretty big deal is happening at the Capitol tonight. A House and Senate Joint Committee is meeting this evening to decide who should help lead the University of Minnesota as a member of the Board of Regents. The committee will recommend four candidates out of a slate of 12 to the full legislature for a vote.

But lawmakers can also nominate whomever they like at any point in the process. Ember Reichgott Junge is familiar with this system. She helped create it during the 1990, when she was a DFL State Senator from New Hope. She's here to talk about why it matters and why it's still so political. Senator, welcome back.

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

CATHY WURZER: I'm glad you're here. Thank you. I never like to assume that everyone knows what we're talking about. The Board of Regents is the governing body for the University of Minnesota. These are folks who represent various parts of the state. Give us a taste of why this process has long been so political.

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: Well, let's start out by saying why it's so important. Remember, the university has autonomy. The legislature doesn't have a whole lot of power except for the funding, of course, and the selection of the regents. And it has gotten more political recently over the last, I'd say, decade or two. But I will say that it was actually much worse, if you can believe that, prior to 1988, when this new legislation went into effect.

What this did in '88 was to create the current Regent Advisory Commission. And this Commission was this was formed in order to provide qualified candidates for the regents. Why was that important? Because prior to '88, long time veteran legislators of the Congressional districts would get together quietly in backrooms and anoint the person as regent.

There was absolutely no criteria for qualification. And since most of the veteran legislators were white men, most of the regents selected were white men. And caucuses honored seniority. So the influential legislator got their person elected.

And so the Alumni Association of the University of Minnesota led by a statesman that many people know, Tom Swain, brought to the legislature a proposal for a citizen regent candidate advisory council so we could bring more diverse applicants and screen them for qualification. And the council is tasked to forward at least two vetted names to the legislature for each open seat. And the bottom line is to guarantee that they are qualified and committed to the university.

Believe it or not, in 1992, the legislature actually was awarded a national award from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges for its foresight in moving to this new, less political process. But as you say, the legislature is a political body. So this really worked until about, I'd say, the mid 2000s, like 2005.

And, virtually, every regent elected by the legislature was, in fact, recommended as a qualified recommendation from this particular commission. But after that, things started to change. Politics became more divisive in our society.

And so now things are happening where the majority wants one person another. And they select or nominate other people who are not recommended. That's what's going on now. And they're not really abiding by the original rationale of the commission.

CATHY WURZER: Interesting. So the Regent Candidate Advisory council, as you know, Friday did not forward the names of current board chair Ken Powell, former regent Michael Hsu, or current law professor Richard Painter, who's been a frequent critic of the school. What were the messages being sent by those decisions?

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: So for me, coming from the origins, the historical origins, that is not the role of the Regent Advisory Commission to decide whether they like the policies of someone, like Chairman Powell. For example, some members have said they didn't like how he responded to certain things. That's a legislative decision.

He is qualified. He was qualified six years ago. He is still qualified. So that's the role of the commission.

The legislature can do what it wants. It can decide to elect him or not to elect him. And others can be proposed. And they can be determined. But it's about qualification. It's about the potential for discharging the responsibilities. Do they have the time? And it's about meeting the needs of the board. And that's what the Advisory Commission is supposed to be doing.

And why they came to those conclusions on the other two? I don't know. But with Chairman Powell, he clearly would have been a qualified candidate.

CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering, I was thinking back to the student representative on the Board of Regents. I believe that Minnesota was one of the first states in the country to pass legislation requiring student representation on the governing body of a public university. Why is that important?

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: Oh, that's so important. And that still exists in our statute today, that one member of the Board of Regents must be a student to bring in that student voice. And it's a powerful voice that people need to listen to.

But we also need a lot of other diversity on that board. And that's why we have the opportunity for anyone in our state to step up and say I can be a regent because I can offer my expertise, let's say, as a medical professional or as a company entrepreneur or whatever. So all of those expertise areas are important to a good, functioning university board.

CATHY WURZER: Now, because we have been talking-- by the way, great history lesson. Thank you so much. The process, obviously, is still subject to political influence. If you were in the Capitol today as a lawmaker, how would you try to change the system further to take politics out? Or is that virtually impossible?

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: Well, like I say, the legislature is a political body. But here's what I'd think we could do. We can use the system we have in place because it has worked in the past. What hasn't worked is that we're just as a society more political.

So here's what we do. The legislature reviews and recommends from the qualified group of applicants that the commission puts forward. Then from that narrow group, the key stakeholders can work together to offer a balanced slate of four candidates that reflect the diversity of our state, the current split of the legislative political power, and the specific existing needs of the Board of Regents. And that really shouldn't be so hard. But that would be, I think, the best way to move forward. And I hope that the legislative committees tonight will take that into account and try to address all of the different needs from the group of qualified candidates that has been put before them.

CATHY WURZER: Final question here, Senator. Of course the committee will forward on names for the full legislature to vote. I can't remember the last time I've ever seen this happen. But have you seen where lawmakers from the floor will offer up candidates for a vote that have not been vetted? Has that happened fairly recently?

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: Yes. And from my perspective, that was an unfortunate occurrence. And it occurred the last time around, where someone was nominated from the floor who had not been vetted or not put forward by the commission. And that person is serving. And I'm sure they're serving well. But if you want to follow the rationale of having this public input and having this political process a little less political, I would just think that that would not be the best way to go forward.

CATHY WURZER: Yes. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Senator.

EMBER REICHGOTT JUNGE: You're more than welcome. Thanks for taking time with us. It's an important issue, very, very important board for our state because the university is a jewel for everything that we do.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. We'll see what happens tonight. Thank you we've been talking with former DFL Senator Ember Reichgott Junge about the selection of University of Minnesota Regents.