Some UW faculty members and other regional constituents are calling for a more diverse Board of Trustees and other appointed boards via a petition. While Gov. Matt Mead said he would do his best to represent diverse interests in the state in upcoming appointments, some board members think the appointment process has been unfair.
A petition being circulated by Associate Professor Marianne Kamp calls for more representation of women and minorities among members of the Board of Trustees, as well as the Engineering Task Force and the School of Energy Resource’s Energy Resources Council. The Engineering Task Force is appointed by Mead and the School of Energy Resources members are selected by the Board of Trustees.
Kamp, an associate professor in the History Department, said her petition is not intended to accuse the governor or trustees of wrongdoing, but diversity needs to be a factor in the consideration of appointments.
“It’s the job of the person making the appointments to say, ‘How can I find a wide field of candidates who would be good and appropriate for these kinds of boards?'” Kamp said. “For that, it does take being conscious of gender and diversity. If you don’t walk into the appointment process thinking that, it’s not automatically going to happen.”
The Board of Trustees, made up of 12 members, consists of 10 male and two female appointees. There are no members who would identify as part of a minority group serving at this time. The School of Energy Resource Council has three women representatives and no minorities and the science task force, which was also appointed by the governor, has no female or minority representation in its 10 members. The task force consists of two members of the Board of Trustees and one member also on the SERC. The SERC includes one member of the board.
The demographic makeup of these boards, Kamp said, leaves out important state stakeholders and she believes that should be considered when making appointments.
“I would like the governor to open his eyes and say ‘if there’s no women, or very few women, maybe I needs to go back to my advisors and say we need more women,'” Kamp said.
Mead said he has noticed the makeup of the boards and believes it is an “issue.” Mead said he strives to include as many perspectives from as many parts of the state as possible, pointing out one of the most recent appointments to the Board of Trustees, Wava Tully, is a woman and Democrat from Niobrara County. The state, he said, “struggles with this in other areas as well.”
“We are aware of that and we’ll try to do our best in the upcoming selection; not only with that, but also with other appointed boards,” Mead said.
Betty Fear, a Board of Trustees member for eight years, said she would like to think she was chosen because of her qualifications, rather than her gender.
“I think that most of the Wyoming women serving in various positions across the state would be indignant and insulted to think they were asked to serve simply because they were females,” Fear said.
Dave Bostrom, former Board of Trustees president and member since 2007, said he believes efforts are made in the direction of considering diversity when the governor makes board appointments.
“Governor Mead is committed to balance and is extremely sensitive to issues of women and minorities,” Bostrom said. “I think it may be a matter of balancing between that and folks who are qualified, interested and will be active in the positions.”
Both trustees pointed out that their opinions are only representative of themselves, and any official position on the matter would have to come from Board of Trustees President David Palmerlee. Palmerlee declined to comment on the issue.
The petition, Kamp said, does not call for specific quotas or standards to be established for appointments. Faculty at UW are asked to consider diversity in the hiring process, and Kamp said she believes the policy of consideration is effective in increasing diverse demographic representation among new hires.
“I resent the idea of a quota,” Kamp said. “I’m not looking for a new policy or set of rules, but it is a way of calling attention to an issue. If we truly believe in diversity, it will come out in our actions.”
Kamp said the petition can be found through the website www.change.org. Bostrom said anyone interested in applying for a position for the Board of Trustees can apply through the governor’s website at www.governor.wy.gov under the “Resources” tab.
State elections data obtained by the Star-Tribune in September found the Board of Trustees to be in violation of a state statue where only seven members of the board belong to the same political party. Nine of the current trustees identify as Republican.
University news communications sent an email last night at 5:30 p.m. indicating that Warren Laurer, a board member since 2005, died at home on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 62.
