November 20-21, 2003

 

ITEM 121-109-R1103     Board of Regents Policy and Procedures Manual: Governance and Organization Section 201.7 By-Laws (Revised)

Article IV of Board Policy 201.7 is amended as follows:

ARTICLE IV. Officers

The officers of the board consist of a chair, vice-chair and secretary. Elections shall be held the first regularly scheduled meeting on or after May 1 of each year and the normal term of an officer elected at this time shall run until the next regularly scheduled election. The chair and vice-chair shall be elected from the appointed membership of the board and shall serve for a period of one year until either the expiration of his/her normal term, resignation or to the expiration of his or her term on the board, whichever comes first. An officer shall assume office upon election. In the absence of the chair, the vice-chair will preside. However, the chair may assign any Regent to temporarily preside over some specific portion of a meeting. If the office of chair or vice-chair is vacated prior to the expiration of thea normal term, the board will hold an election to fill the vacated office. The newly elected officer will serve for the remainder of the term. The commissioner of higher education will serve as secretary to the board.

Explanation

The current Board policy on election of officers has some ambiguities. First, there is no specified time for the regular election of officers. The Board has in the past held them in May or June, but this has not been memorialized in written policy. Second, the term of an officer is not well defined. For example, does the term of an officer elected in May, but whose Regental term runs out the following February 1 (8 months), run until February or May. The policy is not clear, but if it is the former (until February 1 only), then the date for regular elections would eventually shift from May to February unless the current policy is amended. Also, the term of one year specified in current policy is impractical to implement because Regent meetings are not held exactly one year apart. If the policy were followed literally terms would expire at some variable date between meetings in most cases.

Therefore, the proposed amendments address all these problems. They specify a time for regular elections, they define the term of office more precisely and they indicate when new officers are to assume their position.