Is resistance futile?

Trustee move to control colleagues is always misplaced

We hear all the time about academic freedom among professors in higher education, and it’s a vital component of any Arkansas institution that embraces a mission to advance the cause of knowledge and instruction.

But what about political freedom? Not the kind that carries an “R”, a “D” or an “L” beside candidates’ name, but one that preserves the authority of those appointed by the governor and entrusted with the best interests of such institutions.

Across the state, boards of trustees are empowered with the oversight of colleges and universities. These are plum appointments, usually dished out to a governor’s political supporters. But their terms are long enough in many cases — 10 years for the University of Arkansas board of trustees — that a trustee can function independently of the chief executive who made the appointment.

Trustees at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, for example, get seven-year terms.

And speaking of Henderson, its board of trustees is the latest to conjure up the cockamamie idea of establishing speech and campus visit limits on, believe it or not, themselves.

We believe it, because we’ve seen this story before. The University of Arkansas board of trustees, the board at Northwest Arkansas Community College and at other institutions have at different times tried impose limits on themselves. In reality, that means a majority didn’t care much for what one or two other members were doing and wanted to rein them in.

Here’s how it usually plays out: Something worth questioning is happening at an institution, so one or two trustees do their duty and start asking questions. They start looking into matters. They seek out a variety of perspectives. They might even have the audacity to walk onto the campus of the institution they’re entrusted to guide and visit with students, faculty or staff.

We can’t have that now, can we? So some other board member who doesn’t like it proposes certain standards of conduct for trustees.

At Henderson, two trustees have raised questions about severe budget problems, faculty discontent and disagreement on the board.

So the school’s board of trustees will discuss at a Sept. 14 meeting a proposal of nine “principles” to which each trustee must adhere. These include a requirement to notify the campus president “as a matter of professional courtesy” when a trustee visits campus. They would be required to address matters of university administration or executive action only through the president. They would be barred from ever disclosing information obtained during the board’s executive (closed to the public) sessions.

There’s also a statement that no board member speaks for the board except, usually, the board chairman.

In each case of such “standards,” there’s usually a concern that the one or two minority members aren’t fulfilling some wished-for unity among trustees. So they must be controlled.

One might think the governor, who appoints members to the state’s boards of trustees, would be upset by such actions. But Gov. Asa Hutchinson, with regard to the Henderson spat, offered no comment. It’s a matter for Henderson state and its trustees, Hutchinson’s office said.

That’s a cop-out. The governor should set high expectations that every appointee, whether his or a predecessor’s, has an individual duty to follow his own sense of what’s right in carrying out the responsibilities of the office. Trustees are individually appointed. They’re not there to join a club, but to cast individual votes. If the board reaches unity, that’s outstanding. But enforcing some trumped-up rules designed to clamp down on individual curiosity, research and expression is not what’s best for any university or college.

The governor should stand up against any effort to enforce groupthink. Every trustee should be an independent voice. While life may be made easier when a rebel trustee is brought under control, that’s not the solution. Engaging in discussions, allowing different perspectives to be expressed, then voting and letting the majority decide sounds like a reasonable solution.

It doesn’t take a degree to figure that out.