BOR Minutes: March 20, 2002
Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education
Minutes
One Day Retreat
March 20, 2002
Montana State University-Northern
Havre, MT
COMMITTEE REPORTS
These minutes were approved unanimously at the
COMMITTEE REPORTS
May 23-24COMMITTEE REPORTS
, 2002 meeting of the Board in Dillon, MT.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2002
The meeting convened at 8:30 a.m.
Chairwoman Thompson called on Regent Roehm to introduce and comment on the three resolutions he had drafted for consideration at this Regents� meeting.
After
opening comments about the three resolutions, he moved
the adoption of the resolution
entitled:
�Resolution Regarding the Respective Role of the Board of Regents and University System Managers� (included as Attachment 1).
Regent Mercer: (1) raised a procedural question about whether this resolution had been distributed sufficiently in advance to enable action on it at this meeting; (2) objected to the language that said the Regents �have no ability to perform the actual work of the University System;� and (3) questioned the language that said the Commissioner was the principal employee of the Board of Regents.
In responding to Regent Mercer�s comments, Regent Semmens noted that this Board takes a proactive and committed role in the control and management of the Montana University System and he has been told by people with experience in other state�s that this Board is way out in front of what happens in other states with regard to being proactive and in charge. Regent Mercer commented that the real problem is with the meeting format.
Regent
Hur moved to
table Regent Roehm�s motion until the May
meeting.
The
Motion was approved on a 4-3
vote.
Regent
Mercer moved
the approval of his item on
changes to the Bylaws of the
Board of Regents.
Regent
Hamilton moved
to table action on the motion until the end of the discussion
on each element of the proposed changes.
The
Motion
was approved
unanimously.
Regent
Mercer moved
that the reports from students,
campus CEOs, and the Commissioner be
submitted in writing in advance of the meeting and that the oral
reports be eliminated.
The
Motion was approved on a 5-2
vote.
Regent
Hur moved
that the Commissioner be authorized to set up meetings
with faculty, classified employees, students, and campus CEOs at each meeting of
the Board of Regents. The Commissioner will consult with these groups to
determine the specifics of meeting times and frequency of meetings.
The
Motion was approved unanimously.
After
a brief discussion of the use of email by the Regents, consensus
was reached that Regents should contact LeRoy Schramm for guidance and
opinion at any time they see some email activity involving all of the Regents
that seems questionable.
Regent
Mercer moved
that ex-officio members of the Board of Regents (the Governor and the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction) be included on all emails to the Regents
as a group. The Commissioner�s Office will supply these email addresses
to all of the Regents.
The
Motion
was approved
unanimously.
Regent
Jasmin moved to take Regent
Mercer�s motion on changes to the By-laws off
the table.
The
Motion
was approved
unanimously.
Regent
Roehm movedthat the item be tabled until the
May meeting of the Board of Regents and that the Committee looking into
meeting format reconvene to develop recommendations for the Regents after input
from the staff. After further discussion, Regent Roehm amended
his motion to take out the reconvening
of the Committee.
The
motion to table failed on a 3-4
vote.
Regent
Mercer moved
to add to Article IV of the
By-laws the following as a new second sentence in the paragraph:
�However, the chair may assign any Regent to temporarily preside over some specific portion of a meeting.�
The
Motion was approved unanimously.
Regent
Mercer moved
the following new language be added
to Article V:
�To place an item, or group of items, on the agenda, a member of the Board of Regents, a campus, or the Commissioner must request the item or items and submit them to the Secretary of the Board of Regents at least two weeks prior to a meeting.�
Regent
Mercer agreed to friendly amendments that
changed the two weeks prior to a meeting to three weeks and that the
Commissioner and the Chair could make an exception to the requirement.
Regent
Jasmin offered an amendment that
added
�with the approval of the Commissioner� after �a campus� in the proposed new language.
The
AMENDMENT was approved on
a 5-2 vote.
The
original Motion was approved
unanimously.
Regent
Mercer then moved
the following new language be added
to Article V:
�Upon submitting an item, or group of items, the requestor shall designate the item or items as either action or discussion, information or special. An action item, or group of action items may also be designated �Consent� by the requestor, with the concurrence of the Chair. The Chair shall place all requested matters on the agenda in the category designated by the requestor. The Chair shall arrange the order of the items.�
After
informal discussion the first sentence
of the proposal was changed to
read:
�Upon submitting an item, or group of items, the requestor shall designate the item or items as either action or discussion, information or special; after consultation with the Commissioner, the Chair shall place all such items on the agenda in the category the chair deems appropriate.� The next to last sentence was deleted.
With
those changes the Motion was approved
unanimously.
Regent
Mercer then moved
the following new language be added
to Article V:
�When a consent item, or group of consent items, is called up on the agenda for action, if there is no objection, action may be taken without further testimony or discussion.�
The
Motion was approved on a 6-1
vote.
Regent
Mercer then moved
the following new language to be added
to Article V:
�When an action item, other than a consent item for which no objection has been made, is called up on the agenda, the sponsoring Regent, campus, or representative of the Commissioner�s Office shall present the item, the chair will invite testimony [changed to �comment� editorially before the motion was voted upon] from citizens, students, faculty, staff, administrators and anyone else in attendance, followed by questions from the Regents. The sponsor will then have the right to respond. The item may be acted upon by the Regents at that time, or action may be delayed until after other action items have been presented. Items presented may be altered or amended, but not in such a manner as to change the original topic or subject.�
The
Motion was approved on a 4-3
vote.
Regent
Mercer then moved
to eliminate the references to
standing committees in Article VII of the By-laws.
After
lengthy discussion, the Motion
was approved on
a 4-3 vote.
Regent
Mercer moved
to add the following language to
the end of Article VIII:
�Prior to convening in executive session the chair shall announce the rationale that forms the legal basis for the executive session. When executive sessions are contemplated the meeting agenda should indicate the general topic of the contemplated executive session (e.g., honorary degree, employee evaluation, student appeal).�
The
Motion was approved unanimously.
Discussion then moved to consideration of changes to Article I X, Order of Business. After considerable discussion of this item, the Board agreed to have LeRoy Schramm bring back a revised version incorporating the various suggestions that had been made. The Board was unable to reach consensus on two issues.
Regent
Hur, therefore, moved
that the order of business begin with an invocation.
The
motion failed on a 2-5 vote.
Regent
Hur moved that the order of
business include a pledge of allegiance or some other appropriate patriotic
ceremony.
The
motion
failed on a 3-4
vote.
LeRoy
Schramm subsequently returned with a revised
meeting format which was unanimously
approved.
It
was agreed that under the new format public
input should come after the
approval of the minutes.
Regent
Roehm moved the adoption
of his resolution entitled:
�Resolution Regarding Commissioner�s Responsibilities to Direct OCHE Staff� (See Attachment 2).
The
Board agreed to two
editorial changes in the original resolution.
The
Motion was approved unanimously.
Regent
Roehm moved
the adoption
of his resolution entitled:
�Resolution Regarding the Restructuring Plan� (see Attachment 3).
After
some discussion, Regent Hur moved
that the topic and the resolution be tabled
and carried over to the May
meeting.
The
motion to table failed on a 2-5
vote.
Regent
Roehm�s original Motion was approved
on a 5-2 vote.
The
Regents unanimously agreed that
the amendments to the By-laws
would take effect beginning with
the July 2002 meeting of the
Board.
A copy of the By-Laws as revised is enclosed as Attachment 4.
With no further business to come before the Board the meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Mailed to the Board of Regents on
(Date)
Sherry Rosette Board Secretary |
Approved by the Board of Regents on
(Date)
Margie Thompson Board Chairwoman |