(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The legislature's power play on the Board of Regents, OCHE appears to be working – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'June', 'Darrell Ehrlick'] Date: 2023-06-15 The sabre rattling finally worked. For at least the previous two legislative sessions, angry Republicans, which seems redundant, have groused about the liberal universities in Montana and, at times, peppered their comments with the word “woke.” They threatened a constitutional amendment that would wrest power away from the Board of Regents and give it to the legislature, even though most residents seem loathe to screw with the Constitution, and should appreciate the arm’s-length distance higher ed requires from politicians. But, I have to tip my hat to the lawmakers: Their snorting and hollering worked. It seems to have been received by the Board of Regents and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Dutifully, public higher education officials have stepped back in line like the good girls and boys they are, while trying to suppress any sudden outbreaks of liberalism or progressive urges. Or democracy. Last week, reporting by Keila Szpaller of the Daily Montanan revealed that a student-approved fee that would have gone to the Montana Public Interest Research Group, MontPIRG, would not be even be placed on the regents’ agenda. It appears MontPIRG, which has been active at both of the flagship campuses for decades, was just too darn progressive. MontPIRG’s efforts were largely student-driven, student-approved and focused on get-out-the-vote drives, as well as lobbying for things that many students cared about – the environment, public lands, tuition, firearms on campus and, maybe most importantly, affordable housing. Damn those MontPIRGers and their participation in democracy. Regents had previously said they were concerned because MontPIRG was the only organization that received student fees that wasn’t part of the campus. In other words, the regents seem miffed that an organization that receives funding through them is something they can’t control. Sound familiar? Well if so, it’s a copy-and-paste job from the legislature, which is also rankled that it sends the Montana University System cash, and it can’t control higher education, either. But what OCHE and the University of Montana are doing is providing exactly the kind of proof of why universities’ budgets and their mission needs to stay free from the political process. The regents, when dealing with the last MontPIRG approval, said they wanted to see something different. Yet, in the intervening year nothing materialized. If it was really such a priority for the university system, why didn’t anything happen? If the university system had wanted a new model, it had plenty of time and the endorsement from the regents. Instead, the message the regents are sending to the students is that they don’t have the right to determine how their own money can be spent. Seems like the university system is suffering from a case of the Stockholm Syndrome. Yet beyond that, it also risks sending several other dangerous messages to students and lawmakers. First, learning how to vote, getting involved, and speaking to your elected leaders is part of the process of becoming an active, engaged and responsible citizen, regardless of political ideology. This issue apparently popped up in Missoula for a reason – because it is perceived as a hotbed of leftist politics, a fact no one seems to dispute. And so I have ask: What of it? How is that fact somehow more disconcerting than the overgeneralization that all of eastern Montana is conservative? Higher education is quick to remind us that not every lesson students learn while in college happens as a result of a textbook or test. Many of us remember learning how to vote, learning how to speak up and finding our values while in college. Many of us were the unwitting beneficiaries of groups like MontPIRG, which helped demystify the process. For that reason alone, MontPIRG should have support. Failing that, the university needs to find a viable alternative. Like yesterday. MontPIRG may just be a sacrificial, even if liberal, goat, though. By denying this group, which has historic ties to the university but is not a direct program of the University of Montana, the regents have played the part of the dutiful child, respecting the authority of their legislative parents. While that may take the heat off the university system and cool the temperature in the discussion surrounding who controls the university system, the regents and Commissioner Clay Christian have demonstrated the precise amount of pressure the lawmakers have to exert in order to keep the university system in line. Deftly played, legislators. If this is the political landscape, Montana residents have an unenviable choice: Have your university system run by 150 lawmakers, many of whom seem proud of the fact they’ve never been in the belly of the beast by attending such liberal indoctrination; or, we have the regents who don’t seem willing to grab the power the constitution gives them, or trust that Montana’s residents are comfortable enough to not want to change the state’s venerable constitution. The Montana University System is teaching us a tuition-free lesson. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/06/15/the-legislatures-power-play-on-the-board-of-regents-oche-appears-to-be-working/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/