University of Minnesota regents and Minnesota State trustees must be more accountable, critics say

Student leaders pleaded with the University of Minnesota Board of Regents not to hike tuition, eliminate sports teams or give President Joan Gabel a big pay raise. The regents approved the measures anyway, with only a few members dissenting.

At the Minnesota State colleges and universities system, employees and students called on the board of trustees to discipline Chancellor Devinder Malhotra for allowing a college president accused of harassment and discrimination to stay on the job. Instead, the board gave Malhotra a glowing performance review, just months after he was criticized for not taking the misconduct allegations seriously.

Over the past two years, campus community members have grown increasingly frustrated with the governing boards of Minnesota's two public college systems, saying they listen mostly to administrators rather than the students and employees they serve. State lawmakers have taken notice, proposing legislation to change how members of the two boards are selected.

The U's regents need "to challenge the administration a little bit. Ask them some tough questions," said state Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, vice chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, which held a hearing earlier this year on the school's decision to cut sports. "It just doesn't seem like that's happened at all recently."

Leaders of the two boards said they do listen to stakeholders but can't satisfy everyone when balancing the college systems' budgets.

"You try to be available, you try to be open, but you just don't always agree," said Steve Sviggum, vice chair of the U's Board of Regents. "Our mission is the fiduciary operation of the university … We try very hard to keep politics out of university decisions."

The U's 12 regents, who receive no pay and are elected by the Legislature, are charged with approving a $4 billion annual budget and other major policies. Their decisions to increase tuition while also raising administrator pay have long frustrated students and lawmakers, but their choices during the COVID-19 pandemic drew even more scrutiny.

In the fall of 2020, the regents voted 7-5 to eliminate the U's men's gymnastics, tennis and indoor track teams. Administrators said the move would help the athletics department address a large projected budget deficit and comply with federal Title IX rules by better balancing male and female athletes. The program cuts were estimated to save the U just under $2 million annually.

Supporters of the gymnastics team asked the regents to let them sustain the team through existing endowments and pledged donations. Those requests were denied.

"What does it take to support an NCAA gymnastics team?" Board of Regents Chair Ken Powell said. "It's millions of dollars. It's not just funding for a year."

Just over a year after those sports were cut, regents approved a new multi-year contract for Gabel that increased her total compensation to $1 million, bringing her base salary closer to that of most other Big Ten presidents. Critics argued the money could have helped save the sports teams, and noted employees had been recently furloughed due to pandemic-related budget difficulties.

As regents were considering Gabel's new contract, U leaders were denying clerical workers' requests for wage increases to keep up with inflation. AFSCME Local 3800 President Cherrene Horazuk said the U refused their requests for a 5% raise and instead gave them 1.5%.

"We've seen minimal wage increases as staff. We have seen our frontline staff positions cut while high-wage administrative positions are expanded at the same time that tuition has gone up," said Horazuk, who raised the issue with regents in December.

Six months after approving Gabel's pay raise, regents voted 11-1 to increase tuition and room and board prices at the U's five campuses. Students and alumni disapproved of the tuition increase in written comments before the board's June meeting but failed to sway the regents' votes or change the measure.

"Students know best about where their tuition dollars can go to," said Abdulaziz Mohamed, the U's undergraduate student body president for 2021-22. "It's really important that student concerns and opinions are not only listened to but acted on."

The U's student government brought its concerns to the Legislature this year, asking lawmakers to change the regent selection process. DFL and Republican lawmakers agreed on a proposal to appoint more students and faculty members to the council that vets and nominates regent candidates, but the higher education funding bill including the measure didn't make the legislative deadline.

Powell said the regents engage with stakeholders all the time. The board has eight nonvoting student representatives who participate in select committee meetings. Members interact with students elsewhere as well, Powell said, adding he's attended student senate meetings.

Cutting sports and raising tuition were painful but necessary decisions, Powell said, though he would not say if he had challenged U leaders to find money elsewhere to avoid tuition hikes.

"There is a very serious and dedicated effort to be more efficient and find places where we can eliminate costs," he said.

Sviggum acknowledged Gabel's salary increase was "significant" but said she had helped steer the school through the pandemic while being paid less than her peers. She also had two job offers from other colleges. "We could not afford to lose her," he said.

Sviggum and Powell said they're receptive to calls for the regents to hold more public hearings. They typically allow public testimony once a year before approving the annual budget, and a board committee has pledged to consider more such opportunities.

"We need to continue to make strides and improvements in how we engage with the university community and the public," Regent James Farnsworth said.

Regent Darrin Rosha, an outspoken critic of tuition hikes and administrator pay, said the Legislature needs to take regent elections seriously if it wants "a more responsive and more focused board."

Trustees 'asleep at the wheel'

The Minnesota State system's board of trustees has been criticized over the past year for not exercising enough oversight. It never publicly reprimanded Malhotra for allowing former Hennepin Technical College President Merrill Irving Jr. to stay on the job amid multiple accusations of harassment and discrimination. Irving was investigated in 2017 and 2021, but Malhotra kept him on and rejected an investigator's finding that he had violated workplace policies.

Irving resigned in February after a Star Tribune report revealed the allegations against him. House Republicans had called for his resignation, but Malhotra reassigned Irving to a temporary special assistant job in the Minnesota State system's central office and allowed him to retain his $232,000 presidential salary.

At last month's board of trustees meeting, Chair Jay Cowles said the board determined Malhotra to have performed at an "outstanding level" in his latest job review. Cowles did not address Malhotra's handling of Irving's alleged misconduct.

In an interview, Cowles said trustees privately discussed the situation with Malhotra, who he said took responsibility and engaged with Hennepin Technical's employees. Malhotra and the board have since reviewed and refined the system's harassment policy.

"We continue to support the chancellor fully," Cowles said, speaking on behalf of the board. "He's been open and transparent with us." Asked if he knew of the allegations against Irving before they were publicized, Cowles said he did.

Mike Dean, executive director of LeadMN, the community college student association, said trustees aren't fulfilling their duty to hold the chancellor accountable, "whether it's issues around Hennepin Tech, whether it's issues around massive declines in enrollment or just the overall fiscal management of the institutions. The board is asleep at the wheel right now."

Trustees currently are appointed by the governor. A Republican House member critical of how the board and chancellor handled Irving's alleged misconduct tried to transfer trustee appointment power to the Legislature earlier this year, but the motion did not pass.

Two former student members of the board of trustees, Ashlyn Anderson and Oballa Oballa, said they think some board members make up their minds on important decisions before hearing from students and other stakeholders.

Anderson said she was told not to criticize board votes she disagreed with. "There were very few decisions that weren't unanimous," she said.

Oballa said he doesn't think older members of the board fully understand the struggles of students "because they don't live in their shoes."

The board voted at its June meeting to increase tuition 3.5% this fall. Before the vote, LeadMN representatives showed board members a recent survey of more than 1,500 students that found 97% opposed the tuition increase.

Cowles said the board's hands were tied. The Minnesota State system relies heavily on tuition and state funding, but the latter has not kept up with inflation. And lawmakers did not fund Minnesota State's last two requests for a tuition freeze.

"Raising tuition is always our last resort," Cowles said. "The Legislature's decisions shape our choices."