Concerns from former Regents chair

Editor:

As a former chairman of the Board of Regents I wish the current board well. I am especially interested in the success of our students and wonder if there are significant efforts to resolve the following:

1. What is being done to reduce the time to graduation? It used to be four years but currently a very large number of our students must stay for almost six. If there is not a consistent understanding of why students don't graduate in a timely manner and general agreement about what needs to be done, I am not sure the issue will be addressed successfully on any campus. Further, this is usually not a student affairs issue; it is controlled by the administration.

2. What is being done to reduce the cost of education? The average student loan for our graduates is approximately $25,000, which means that our students graduate in debt for a number of years. Numerous studies show college administrative costs have risen far in advance of the economy. Our institutions need to be sure that our students have not been handicapped because of roadblocks put in place by institutional policies and practices.

3. Are pay and benefits being applied equitably for facility, staff and administrators? It appears the pay given to the new presidents and commissioner has gone up tremendously while compensation to the persons who are actually creating knowledge through teaching and research has remained essentially flat. Salary equity can be examined analytically and that study should be done.

4. Our senior executives are being paid a significant salary to provide a safe and effective learning environment. Numerous stories of drug abuse, grade manipulation and sexual assault on our campuses makes me wonder if the public is getting their money's worth.

5. Has the recent selection of a new commissioner been accomplished with sufficient input from faculty, staff and especially the public to preclude this decision being viewed as collusion among the regents? In September, the board eliminated the Ph.D. requirement for selection. In December, without a broad search or public input, they appointed the former chairman who had just resigned within the week. The selection process needs to be transparent as public perception is what will drive the reaction of faculty, and especially the Legislature. Currently, the closed nature of the selection process and the exorbitant salaries paid appears to be a profound example of cronyism.

Richard R. Roehm, Col. USAF (Ret.)

Helena