The Board of Regents could see major changes if two bills framed by Sen. Tim Keller are approved by the Legislature this spring.
One of the bills would require the Senate to approve all of Gov. Bill Richardson's regent appointees by a two-thirds majority vote, and the other would create a faculty regent position on the board.
Keller said the bills have the potential to de-politicize regent boards statewide and give faculty a voice in University management.
If ratified by the state's 70-member House of Representatives and 42-member Senate before March 20, the bills will be voted on during the 2010 general election. If the public approves, they would become amendments to New Mexico's Constitution starting in 2011.
"The people - all of us citizens - should vote on these board of regent changes," Keller said. "In other words, my bill is just to have a vote on it. So, even if they pass (through the Senate and House of Representatives), we still have to vote on it, but that also means the governor will be unable to veto it. So, if they pass the House and the people - I think it's much more likely to pass. It won't require any governor stance."
Jamie Koch, president of the UNM Board of Regents, said a faculty regent would have a hard time representing the faculty because his or her vote would be a conflict of interest.
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"The conflict of interest statute says that, first of all, this faculty member would not be able to vote on any budgets, because he's got a financial interest," Koch said. "So they would have to be excluded from all financial voting on any budget during the year."
Koch also said a balance must be maintained between the number of Democrats and Republicans that Richardson appoints to the board. This means the number of regents at UNM would have to be increased, from seven to nine, in order to accommodate the presence of the student regent and the faculty regent, he said.
Richard Wood, chairman of the Faculty Governance Committee, said the faculty would not mind seeing the Board of Regents grow for the sake of political party balance.
However, the "heavy-handed management" of the regents would remain a main concern, Wood said.
"My faculty concern is more about the decisions being made rather than how many regents there are," he said.
Wood said that by creating a faculty regent position, Keller's bill would force UNM to abide by the shared-governance structure that it claims to run and restore balance between the administration and faculty.
"Now, one voice doesn't have a great deal of influence on the outcome, but it means that the regents will have information and the experience of faculty to draw on as they make key decisions," he said. "I just think it makes terrific sense for the future of the University. It's not that faculty know everything they need to know. The regents bring some business sense and some political sense. That kind of stuff is important, but nobody knows the research and education side like the faculty do."
Faculty Senate President Howard Snell said adding a faculty member to the Board of Regents would increase the diversity of opinion and communication between members of the UNM community to the Board of Regents.
"Obviously, we've made steps in that direction by having a student regent, and a faculty regent seems to be a logical next step," Snell said.
Loyola Chastain, Staff Council president, said the staff would be glad to see a faculty regent, and after that a staff regent as well.
The faculty, as well as staff, already give input to the Board of Regents at its meetings. The Staff Council president and Faculty Senate president serve as regent advisers and usually give a report each month.
Chastain said the regent adviser positions are not sufficient to influence decisions the board makes.
"I think it's good that we are regent advisers. I think it's excellent, because it does allow us to give input," she said. "But it isn't sufficient. It would be better to have a voting member of the board . both for the faculty and the staff. I think then you are truly representing your constituency in a manner in which you have some actual influence."
Koch said the faculty should take the initiative to spearhead their own affairs instead of waiting on Keller's bills.
They could bypass the almost two-year-long process and petition Richardson to create a faculty regent position, which he could do if he wanted to, Koch said.
Richardson did not respond to requests for comment on creating a faculty regent position.
Keller said he framed the bills long before the faculty began to question the president and regents. The bills would not affect the makeup of the current Board of Regents, he said.
"This is a long-term structural change," Keller said. "I believe improving our higher education (system) does start at the top, and I believe we need to make a structural change, not just changes based on the specific individuals who may be in different roles. This will affect every University in the state, not just UNM."
