A UW System Board of Regents member said he believes leaders of the board should be more diverse.
Gerard Randall Jr., who previously served as vice president of the board, questioned the selection of members to the board's executive committee. The committee, which is made up of the board's various committee chairs, is entirely white males this year.
\To my mind, there should be a division of viewpoints, a division of geographic regions from around the state represented, a division of those who may have longstanding ties to particular institutions in the UW System,"" he said. ""I don't see that represented certainly on the executive committee on board.""
The executive committee makes decisions when the full board is not in session. They also are responsible for audit oversights and reviews.
Randall points to strong affiliations of many board members to the UW-Madison campus as problematic. He said he believes more emphasis should be put on UW-Milwaukee and other institutions in the system.
However, fellow board member and former board president, Jay Smith disagreed. He pointed to the Adopt-a-Campus program, which assigns each regent two campuses to represent. He said that this ensures that no biases toward particular campuses exist on the board.
Smith also said that focus should be on the results of the current board as opposed to their makeup. He said the board, with many of the same members who are currently serving, crafted the Plan 2008 initiative, which outlines diversity goals for the UW System.
""[The executive committee] changes every year. That just happens to be the circumstance at this point in time,"" Smith said. ""It doesn't reflect a lack of diverse interest at all.""
Tommie L. Jones, a graduate student at UW-Oshkosh and the student member of the Board of Regents, said he agrees that diversity is an issue that should be addressed in the years to come. However, he said he believes the current members of the board ""have great respect and care for the UW System.""
Smith said he is proud of the gender and racial diversity in the UW System schools' administrations. Women dominate leadership of the UW System, with Katharine Lyall serving as president.
The Board of Regents includes four female members and three members of color out of 17.
"" I think as a statewide institution, we certainly don't have the kind of race or ethnic diversity that I would like to see,"" Randall said.
