State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala was on campus Wednesday receiving adulation from campus leaders for the add-a-non-representative-student-regent bill that just passed the state senate. Unfortunately, every time ASM lauds the actions of Chvala it becomes more and more evident they’ve been had.
While the Chvala-approved passage of SB 175 gives the perception he is concerned with the Board of Regents and its influence in the quality of education in the UW System, the reality is far different. To Chvala, the Board of Regents is a political tool, the effects on the UW System be damned. SB 175 is a smoke screen meant to mask this sorry truth.
To most observers it is obvious the Board of Regents is a complacent body unable or unwilling to ask politically risky questions or make the principled votes necessary to limit tuition increases while maintaining the quality of the UW System. The $51 million in cuts contained in Gov. McCallum’s new budget proposal will only exacerbate the situation. Adding a new regent (which we support, just not with the restrictions of the current bill) will not cure the situation.
An obvious problem is a lack of political independence. The Board of Regents was designed to be a decision-making body focused on the right thing to do, not focused on pleasing a constituency. Yet four current regents have a constituency — the next governor.
Like other appointed positions, the Senate must approve each member of the Board of Regents. Yet Chvala, who decides what will be voted on and when, has refused to allow a vote on the confirmation of Regents Gerard A. Randall, Jr. (vice president of the board), James R. Klauser, Phyllis Krutsch and Lolita Schneiders. The last two were appointed a year and a half ago.
The reasons for Chvala’s obstruction of Wisconsin’s constitutional process are all too obvious. Without confirmation, the four regents serve on the board at the “pleasure of the governor.” This means no impeachment process is necessary, should the governor wish to remove them. The fact that the election for governor takes place this fall is surely not unrelated. It seems clear Chvala is banking on a Democrat being elected governor and replacing all the non-confirmed regents with Democrats.
Chvala is playing politics with the governing body of the UW System and endangering the quality of public education. The non-traditional regent bill is a part of this process — a tactic to divert attention from the fact that Chvala prioritizes politics over education. If Chvala were truly concerned with the effect the Board of Regents has on the quality of education in the UW System, he would allow a confirmation vote on all the regents immediately instead of passing bills meant to placate student government.
