Take politics out of running our universities

The limits of needing a constitutional amendment to change the structures of government are real in New Mexico. Take a proposal being discussed to change the way in which college and university regents are selected. Right now, it’s pretty much a governor’s pick. That means regents too often are chosen because they support a governor, not necessarily for their expertise on higher education. The Senate ratifies a governor’s choices or rejects them, but there is no nominating body that screens the best candidates.

Two legislators — Democratic state Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces and Republican state Sen. Mark Moores of Albuquerque — want to change that system. To do so, they need to amend the constitution. Their proposal would create bipartisan (or why not nonpartisan or multipartisan?) nominating committees to send a list of qualified candidates from which to choose when an opening occurs. It’s similar to what happens with judicial appointments, where nominees are prescreened. The amendment calls for balance among political parties, too.

Opening the system to nominees who aren’t necessarily political cronies of the governor is a positive step. New Mexico universities are grappling with a host of problems. Leaders must figure out ways to deal with declining enrollment, cuts in state funding and less money for in-state student scholarships from the New Mexico Lottery. To do that, the best people need to be in place — not simply the best people who also happen to support the state’s chief executive.

Another positive of the proposed change would be a lessening of the political wrangling that goes on between a governor and Legislature of opposite parties when approving appointees. Gov. Susana Martinez, rightly, has complained the Legislature has been slow to consider her appointments. She’s still waiting on nearly a dozen regent appointments to be considered. Regent appointments are not the place for politics — either in the original selection or during the vote on a nominee.

Under the proposed amendment, the new nominating system would be used at The University of New Mexico and its Health Sciences Center, New Mexico State University, Eastern New Mexico University, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and others. If approved by the Legislature, voters would then be able to approve the amendment (or not) in the November 2018 general election.

What we wish legislators would consider, however, is the entire system of how universities and colleges are run. In New Mexico, we lack a unified vision for our higher education system. Programs are duplicated. Branches proliferate. Athletic departments do not watch their budgets. And so on, until money is wasted and students shortchanged.

Nowhere, it seems, is there a leader who can tell colleges and universities that enough is enough. As we have written before, the Arizona system for university regents is one that offers greater leadership and control. Arizona has one university system for its comprehensive schools — the University of Arizona, Arizona State and Northern Arizona. That system ensures the universities are working in concert, not against one another.

With resources so limited, it is essential state leaders put the brakes on empire building at colleges and universities across the state. Removing politics from the appointment process is necessary. While lawmakers are considering how universities are governed in New Mexico, they should reconsider the entire structure of boards of regents.

The time for streamlining and efficiency is here. Any reform, however, requires a constitutional amendment — meaning that New Mexico cannot be nimble amid changing times. A weakness, to be sure, and one that will remain until the constitution itself is streamlined.