House soon to hear UT board reduction bill

UPDATED ON FEB. 23:

The Pacer reached out to Chancellor Keith Carver regarding his stance on the legislation. While he supports the reduction of the board, he also says there are too many moving pieces at this time to truly gain a sense of what would change.

“A size-reduction is a good move because governing boards nationally are decreasing,” but as far as removing student positions and understanding the implementation of local advisory boards, “Right now it’s like throwing darts at a moving bullseye.”

The faculty senate at UTM has not released their stance on the issue yet. Their next meeting is set for Tuesday, March 20 at 3:15 p.m. in the Legislative Chambers UC 111.

Continue to follow The Pacer online as the story develops.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The Tennessee House has deferred action on HB 2115, legislation that would reduce the size of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees (BOT), until Feb. 27.

At the beginning of February, Gov. Bill Haslam proposed, as part of the FOCUS Act, legislation that would establish a seven-member advisory board for each campus in the UT system while reducing the current BOT number from 27 to 11.

Though the reduction of the board would remove the current student positions, Eddie Smith, R-Knoxville, says that each campus advisory board would have spots for one student and one faculty member.

The reduction in members includes the governor’s position, and though the change would not take place immediately, its reduction would affect the new governor taking office in January. Five of the six candidates for governor have told The Tennessean that they do not support the change.

Kara Gilliam, immediate past governor of TISL (Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature) from Knoxville, gave testimony against the legislation on behalf of TISL and the UTK faculty senate, according to a statement in The Weekly Watch from the UT Advocacy Department.

Because of the deferment of the legislation, students and faculty still have the opportunity to reach out to sponsors of the bill to voice their support for or concerns about the legislation.

David Hawk, R-Greenville (rep.david.hawk@capitol.tn.gov), and Mark Norris, R-Collierville (sen.mark.norris@capitol.tn.gov), are the sponsors of the bill. Norris can also be found on Twitter @senatornorris.

Follow The Pacer online to keep up with the status of this legislation, or view it online at http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2115&GA=110.

All BOT news can be regularly accessed at https://trustees.tennessee.edu/. The board’s spring meeting is scheduled for March 22-23 in Memphis.