Regents Election

Submitted by Optimism Attache on

Has anyone been able to track down election results for the Regents yet? Seems worth watching, as they will likely play a role in advising Schlissel on choices for AD. 

 

 

rjhucks

November 5th, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^

While I'm sure that you're just having fun, and that it doesn't end up making a difference, the State of Michigan is served by all three of these public universities, and we should want UM, MSU and Wayne State all to be run in the best possible way to educate of the people in our state.

 

PS: I also briefly considered it. Not trying to call you out, I just thought about the idea.

LSAClassOf2000

November 5th, 2014 at 8:20 AM ^

Apart from White, there's not a whole lot of separation at all really - Behm is up 7,137 on Weiser and 11,231 on Steele. In other news, one George J. Perles is about 30,000 ahead of anyone regardless of party for an open seat (well, his seat, I believe - I think he first was elected to it in 2006, but I could be wrong) on the MSU Board Of Trustees. 

Steve Levy Sucks

November 5th, 2014 at 8:19 AM ^

I put Brian down as a write-in.  Normally I do not vote for any college regents as I do not feel it's right of me to place a vote for someone who makes decisions that do not effect me.  I've always wondered why those positions are made by the general electorate.  I do not have enough information on any of those candidates to make an informed decision and therefore choose not to vote on those particular races.

And while I did not ask permission, I did write in Brian with the mindset that it helps get his name out there even more and he made it clear that he will be running for regent the next go around.

Feat of Clay

November 5th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^

I certainly understand why you and others might question why the general public votes for these particular leaders.  But the alternative is to have them appointed by the governor, and that system has its problems.  Elected Regents help to maintain U-M's autonomy from Lansing.

wesq

November 5th, 2014 at 7:59 AM ^

When I searched it last it night it said both the republicans were winning. Less important now that Brandon is gone. We can go back to no politics. But Brian has a thing about transparency which is great but isn't really a left right thing.

sadeto

November 5th, 2014 at 8:29 AM ^

"...they will likely play a role in advising Schlissel on choices for AD."

I certainly hope not. Why would the Regents advise him on choices? Do they have any specific qualifications, or even interest in doing so? It's an executive position reporting to Schlissel, perhaps the Regents will assist with the search process, such as in suggesting people to sit on the committee, but I don't think they'll help him pick his direct report. That would be a vote of no confidence in a guy they just picked to lead the U. I cannot imagine the board of directors of my firm advising our CEO on choices for a new director of my division, that would be inappropriate. Especially if my division represented less than 3% of the firm's revenue. 

sadeto

November 5th, 2014 at 9:59 AM ^

"Ultimate boss"? The Regents do not run the university administration. They are a board of governors/directors. It is different. Of course they could, if they wanted to and could come to agreement on it, but that would be, again, inappropriate, and odd. They simply do not and should not run the university administration unless there is a problem. 

sadeto

November 5th, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^

The regents approve all contracts and other personnel decisions, including leaves of absence, tenure decisions, etc. do you really think they they get involved in making those decisions?? That's absurd. They review, ask questions and approve, or not. They'll give their opinions, make suggestions, give feedback on process and people, but they're not making the decision. Schlissel is. And it isn't at the top of his short list of pressing concerns right now, and I'm glad he's making that clear. Most of you seem to think that because Michigan football is on TV every weekend, it drives the bus at the U. In reality, it's in line somewhere behind the billion dollars in annual federal research dollars and the multi-billion dollar medical center. The regents are not staying up at night trying to decide whom the president is going to hire as AD, and they're not going to make the decision for him. That's not what they do or are tasked with doing.

Optimism Attache

November 5th, 2014 at 9:41 AM ^

They played an advisory role in Brandon's ouster, so I would expect they would have something to say--even just at a high level--about who Schlissel considers to replace him. No, I don't think the regents vet candidates for every position that reports to the president. But this is different.

M-Dog

November 5th, 2014 at 9:15 AM ^

I don't live in Michigan.  How does Regent voting work?

Does the entire state vote for University of Michigan Regents?  Why would most of the state even care?  Does that mean you also vote for MSU Regents, if such a thing exists?

What's to keep MSU fans from voting Dantonio as UofM Regent and other fun "tampering" acts?

I'm curious how it works.  I've lived in a number of states and I've never heard of anything similar.

LSAClassOf2000

November 5th, 2014 at 9:24 AM ^

It's a statewide vote here, so everyone had the potential to vote for the University Of Michigan Regents, The Michigan State UniversityTrustees and I believe even the Wayne State University Board Of Governors (less certain about that last one, but it was definitely on my ballot). Actually, someone above posted the link to the general election results by county, if you're curious about the breakdown. 

CharlesCarmichael

November 5th, 2014 at 9:54 AM ^

I think the idea is that people pay taxes that go to funding these schools, so they should get a say in how the schools operate.  Though over the past few years, the state funding towards higher ed has decreased...

The next question to ask is why aren't the Regents at the other state schools voted on?  Instead, they are appointed by the Governor.  I can tell you as an employee of one of those schools, I would much rather the people vote.  Think about Eastern's Regents and their push for increasing spending on things like the football program over academics, given the history of the football program.  Would you want those guys pulling weight on decisions at Michigan?

 

 

BursleyHall82

November 5th, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^

The Democrats won all the statewide education races - U-M, MSU, Wayne State regents; and State Board of Education. The Republicans were ahead all night, but when Wayne County came in and the Democrats won. So, no change on the U-M Board of Regents. Still 6-2 Democrat.

skurnie

November 5th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^

Dems Kathy White and Mike Behm win Board of Regent seats per MLive

"By 9:20 a.m. Wednesday morning, however, the vote tally told a different story.

White led the pack with 1,352,680 votes. Behm came in second with 1,263,503. Weiser had 1,258,642 votes and Steele 1,254,616."

bronxblue

November 5th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^

This will obviously be a big election in hiring the next AD, but I also suspect that many of the Regents might want to steer clear for the time being, given how badly Brandon was perceived and how politically dangerous a bad selection could be.

MGoRob

November 7th, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^

"Eventually, White and Behm emerged victorious, with White as the leading vote getter (1,352,347 votes) and Behm just behind at 1,263,196 votes. In an election that tallied nearly 5.5 million votes, Behm squeaked past Weiser by a margin of just 4,835 votes." from MLIVE

4,835 votes!  I honestly wonder if MGOBLOG and Brian's endorsement was the push that was needed to those roughtly 5k votes.