Rep. Aram Garabedian, Independent Cranston
State Rep. Aram Garabedian, an Independent from Cranston, is proposing to strip the Board of Governors for Higher Education of its ability to hire or fire the president of the University of Rhode Island, and instead create a Board of Trustees at the university that not only has that power, but serves as an advocate for URI. While the proposal by Garabedian, who once ran for lieutenant governor as a Republican, has yet to be introduced, it is at least creating some dialogue. Garabedian has proposed only creating a separate board for URI and keeping the board of governors. State Senator Donna M. Walsh, D-Charlestown, vice chairperson of the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee agrees with Garabedian that a separate board might be more appropriate, but she asserted that separate boards should also exist at CCRI and RIC, while eliminating the board of governors altogether.
Garabedian proposes the new board to be run in conjunction with the present Board of Governors of Higher Education, and believes it would bring “stability and greater depth” to the university and its programs.
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”I am convinced that a president of a university, like (Dr. Robert) Carothers, should have a board that promotes URI instead of his being the front-man and being so vulnerable,” he said.
Garabedian said he is introducing the legislation because of the controversy surrounding the reappointment of Carothers as URI’s president last fall.
”This is not a minor undertaking,” he said. “I thought about it a lot during the off-legislation season and took the time to research what other states are doing. I believe in boards.” But he said they only work if developed with an appropriate foundation and made up of people from the private sector. “I think it can keep updating the university so the president can really do his job.”
In November, the Board of Governors of Higher Education came under fire when, citing fiscal mismanagement, it offered Carothers only a one-year contract extension. A three-year contract was finally approved, after considerable public pressure. The entire process led to several legislators suggesting the process needed to be changed.
“There is a feeling that the structure of the Board of Governors should be examined,” said Rep. Paul W. Crowley, D-Newport, who serves as vice chairperson of the House Finance Committee. “The issues surrounding the Board of Governors and the Board of Regents has been on the back burner for the past few years.”
Universal concern appears to have developed among legislators over the shift of power over the educational system from the legislature to the governor.
“Right now things are so out of balance,” Crowley said. “The Supreme Court has decided that education is clearly the responsibility of the legislature. Yet the board has been dominated by the governor’s appointees.”
Garabedian agreed.
“The people of Rhode Island put the General Assembly in charge, and (the Assembly) would be most effective in appointments.”
But instead, Garabedian said the governor has been given too much power in appointing members of the board and has created a “one-sided” entity.
According to the law, the board has 15 members. The governor appoints 11 of them. The other members are a college student, the Commission of Secondary Education and two representatives of the General Assembly. The college student’s position rotates among the three state institutions, with the member selected by each institution’s student senate.
Walsh said there needs to be better advocacy for each state institution, and she doesn’t see the current Board of Governors taking on that role.
”I feel individual boards of trustees would be the better system,” she said. “The argument has been that individual boards would create rivalry, but I feel that we need to think of quality. And individual boards would promote quality.”
Still, she is reluctant to support a board for only the university and not the other two institutions.
”That doesn’t sound fair,” she said. “If the Board of Governors system is not right for URI then why is right for the other two?”
While Garabedian has proposed only the board at URI, he suggested that similar boards are also possible at the two other institutions.
Garabedian said his proposed Board for URI is not unlike the concept used throughout the state, where local boards govern the public school systems.
”A board can bring so much to anything you do,” he said. “If you bring a lot of talented people together there will be different backgrounds and viewpoints which will only strengthen a school’s ability to cope with different issues.”
Still unsure of the power of the new board, Garabedian said it would definitely work in conjunction with the current system. Right now Garabedian sees URI’s Board of Trustees hiring the president and working with that person on day-to-day issues, while the Board of Governors would set the salaries and work on other financial issues.
”I’m not clear on the degree of power,” he said. “I see the need of its existence. Now, it’s a matter of balancing out where I want to go with the power.”
Walsh would even go further than Garabedian, establishing boards at each of the schools, eliminating the board of governors, and having all three boards meet jointly to deal with common issues.
”I think if we have individual boards, the presidents and some board members could meet to share what they are doing on that kind of basis so there isn’t duplication,” she said.
With all the talk, Crowley, who previously said he would introduce legislation, has decided to hold off and instead see what his constituents propose.
”I have decided to kind of step back and review what others are doing,” he said. Dr. William Holland, commissioner of Rhode Island Higher Education, is also waiting to see what the legislature will do in terms of revising the current system. He does acknowledge hearing some talk, but said it has been nothing specific.
Still, he says there may be some flaws in the system. As a result, the Board of Governors is in the process of beginning its own self-evaluation, Holland said.
”We think that the board functions quite well,” he said. “But we do believe there might be a need to look at policy changes including the member selection process, the length of terms for members, and the powers of the commissioner.”
