State Sen. Dann introduces bill to reform university trustee boards

Pay to play trustees force parents and students to pay millions more in tuition, Dann’s reform bill will lead to appointment of board members who reflect community values/concerns

Since becoming a member of the Ohio State Senate in 2001, Marc Dann (D-32, Liberty) has fought to lower tuitions at Ohio’s 13 public universities and community colleges.  Far too often—and often inexplicably—he has fought that battle without the support of the boards of trustees governing universities whose skyrocketing costs are making it more and more difficult for traditional and non-traditional students to get the college education they need to compete and succeed in the 21^st Century. 

Why have the trustees of Ohio’s public universities been AWOL in the budget fights that have led to crippling tuition increases?  The answer, revealed in a recent series of Toledo Blade stories and editorials is all too familiar in a state where majority Republicans have cavalierly traded public policy, legislation, no-bid contracts, and appointments to various boards, including those that oversee Ohio’s public universities and community and technical colleges, for campaign contributions. 

The Blade articles reported that:

Ø       Eighty percent of the governor-appointed university trustees or their spouses have made $3 million in political contributions since 1990

Ø       All trustees have been appointed by either Taft or Voinovich

Ø       Trustees contributed $500,000 to Governor Taft

Ø       Trustees contributed $280,000 to former Governor and now Senator George Voinovich

Ø       Akron University Trustee Ann Brennan and her husband, who operates under-performing for-profit charter schools that are draining millions from Ohio’s public primary and secondary schools, have contributed more than $1 million

Ø       Two of the three new trustees appointed to the board of OSU have contributed $1.3 million to Republican candidates and party accounts

“While no one should be surprised that people who shovel piles of money at the governor and Republican legislators in exchange for their appointments are loathe to criticize them for failing to adequately fund our institutions of higher learning, we should all be disturbed by the trustees’ refusal to speak out as the cost of college explodes in this state,” Senator Dann said.  “Since the current board members won’t take a stand, I think it’s time to make sure we appoint some who will.”

According to Senator Dann, the legislation he is introducing today will dramatically alter the criteria for becoming a member of the board of trustees of the state’s public universities, technical and community colleges, Board of Regents, and the Tuition Trust Authority.  “Today the criteria are pretty basic: you have to be breathing and, as The Blade series makes apparent, you should probably make a sizeable campaign contribution to a Republican,” he said.  “Once this bill becomes law and appointments are made under its provisions the boards will start to reflect the values and concerns of the people of the state rather than the people who contribute to campaigns.”

Senator Dann said that one of the most significant features of the bill is the requirement that each board include a member who is the parent of a student at the university in question at the time of their appointment.  “The people who sit around the conference table at university board meetings should include someone who recently sat around their kitchen table at two in the morning worrying about where they were going to find the money to send their kids to college,” he commented.  “We need that kind of perspective if we are to have any hope of keeping higher education available and affordable.”

He also noted that the requirement that the boards be made up of a nearly equal number of Democrats and Republicans is a public policy, not a political consideration.  “Our goal is to ensure that the boards are comprised of at least some members who will be willing to fight funding cuts and the tuition increases they cause,” he stated,  “because it’s obvious that when all the players—the governor, the legislative majority, and the trustees—are on the same team it’s the people of Ohio who lose.  We’re way overdue for a rules change.”

Senator Dann also believes board members should have a direct connection to the institutions they govern.  That is why newly appointed trustees must live in the community in which the institution is located or be graduates of or former instructors at the school.  “This will ensure that the board members share the values and concerns of the people who attend and depend on the college in their area,” he said.  “And it will also make them much more likely to work hard to make sure it meets the needs of the community in a way that absentee trustees can’t or won’t.”

The Senator concluded by saying that the provision prohibiting the appointment of former legislators, executive agency employees or lobbyists to the boards for a period of three years after they have left government service or stopped lobbying will make it less likely that these prestigious appointments will be offered as rewards for services rendered.  “These positions are too important to the future of our state to be handed out to campaign contributors or staffers as gilt-edged thank you notes,” Senator Dann said.  “It’s time to make sure the trustees are serving the interests of the people whose futures depend on higher education and not the special interests who view them as a perk.”