The nine-member board of trustees at the University of Akron has two vacancies. The past two years, terms have expired, and Gov. John Kasich has yet to fill the openings. Might things have been different at the university the past year or so if the governor had acted? The chemistry of the board might have changed. The board might have altered its perspective on the decision-making of the now embattled Scott Scarborough, the university president.
What should be evident is the urgent need for the governor to make two sound appointments. Events at the university have divided the community and the campus. The trustees would benefit from reinforcements who would bring credibility and a helpful perspective to the turmoil driven, among other things, by budget reductions to set the finances right and deeply troubled relations between the faculty and the president.
The appointments are urgently needed whether Scarborough somehow remains as president or the trustees launch the needed transition and find a new leader for the university.
Ohio has had a reputation as an attractive place for a university president. Presidents have enjoyed autonomy, the state without an actual system for higher education or much oversight, though as governor Ted Strickland sought to make some substantial strides and John Kasich has moved at times in that direction.
The governor does appoint trustees to nine-year terms. Unfortunately, the selections across the state too often look like political rewards, for instance, party loyalists or steady and generous campaign donors receiving a pat on the back through a seat on the board. Or selections proceed without enough care for the skills required to oversee an institution of higher education.
To be sure, the process has produced exemplary choices. Yet the perception reigns that governors hardly are bound to select the best and the brightest for the task.
That suggests one of the curious things about the UA board. Two prominent leaders from the region, Sandra Pianalto, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Anthony Alexander, a former chief executive at FirstEnergy, serve currently as advisory members. They reflect more the caliber of those who should be voting members. They also have been conspicuously quiet as the turmoil has escalated.
State lawmakers would do well to think about the criteria, or guidelines, for university trustees. It makes sense for boards to have some members with knowledge and appreciation for shared governance, nonprofit organizations and the change already hitting higher education. The state would be in a stronger position to apply such leverage if it routed adequate funding to public colleges and universities, something it does not do now.
Whatever the result of a legislative examination, trustee appointments must begin to reflect in a consistent way the importance of the institutions to their communities, regions and the state. Public universities are essential to a stronger economy and improved quality of life. That is certainly the case in Akron. And it is why the governor, busy though he is running for president, must act quickly to select trustees for the University of Akron who are prepared to make the contribution this difficult time requires.