WACO, Texas (ABP) — Baylor University regents approved a charter change to downsize the school's governing board from 36 to 16 members over nine years and agreed to a 7.8 percent tuition hike for 2006-07.
Chairman Will Davis of Austin characterized the vote on the reduction in board size as “not unanimous but overwhelming.”
The downsizing ultimately will give Baylor the smallest board of any Texas Baptist school and one of the smallest boards among nonprofit, religiously affiliated universities.
Debate on the issue among regents was “a very high-quality, thoughtful discussion” of its advantages and disadvantages, said Interim President Bill Underwood.
Regents approved amendments to the university's articles of incorporation reducing the board's size from 36 to 16 members and dropping the maximum number of years of consecutive service from nine years to six. The board downsizing will be achieved through attrition over nine years, Davis explained.
“There will be no mandatory resignations,” he said. “As current terms expire, they will not be reappointed.”
Regents approved the measure to improve the “efficiency and effectiveness” of the governing board, Davis said, adding they considered 36 too many members for a working, decision-making board.
Three other universities affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Others have 24 to 48 trustees.
But unlike other schools, Baylor's governing board has not been selected for its financial development capability, Davis maintained. “Most nonprofits with large boards use them to try to raise money,” he said. “Right or wrong, Baylor has never used its board as a fundraising vehicle.”
Prior to the meeting, some who were aware of the proposal characterized it as a power grab intended to silence dissenting voices on the board. They noted some of the first regents to rotate off the board will be among the most vocal opponents of former President Robert Sloan and his leadership. Sloan resigned June 1 after more than two years of controversy and accepted the university chancellor's position.
Others maintained the downsizing fails to address the root cause of problems at the university — a deeply polarized board that continues to line up in support of or opposition to the former president.
“A 16-member polarized board is just as dysfunctional as a 36-member polarized board, especially when it is a subset of the same people,” Randy Ferguson, a regent from Austin, wrote to members of the regents' committee. Ferguson urged the committee to reconsider its proposal and instead nominate four new members not affiliated with any faction in Baylor life.
“Surely, with the tens of thousands of Baylor graduates in Texas alone, we can find four men and women that do not have a sword in their hand and have not been part of the three-year civil war that has been going on,” he wrote.
Regarding the tuition and rate increase — from $21,070 this year to $22,714 — Underwood said it was “absolutely necessary for us to continue to provide the quality of education we are committed to providing at Baylor University.”
Specifically, it will provide faculty and staff salary increases after three years of limited or no raises; catch up on deferred maintenance; help the university deal with a $2.4 million increase in utility costs; and restore capital budgets for classroom, lab and office equipment — all of which were cut in recent years.