Legislature mulls dissolution of College Board

A legislative proposal to break up the state College Board amid anger over the group's ousting of Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones hit the Senate and House on Tuesday but needs two-thirds vote to pass.

State Sen. Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, introduced the Senate version of the measure in a pair of resolutions modeled after previous legislation that had died in 2009. State Rep. Brad Mayo, R-Oxford, is leading similar efforts in the House, where his resolution also was announced Tuesday.

Both proposals would require each university to have its own board of trustees and turn the current state College Board into a "board of governors" still responsible for statewide oversight but no longer in control of individual university decisions.

"We give K-12 districts autonomy in their hiring and firing decisions," said Tollison, whose district includes the University of Mississippi Oxford campus. "We need to give the same autonomy to universities."

A copy of Mayo's resolution was not immediately available. Tollison's are SCR 654 and SCR 655.

The measures need the support of at least 34 senators and 81 representatives to even be considered because it's past the deadline to file new legislation.

Tollison's measure already garnered 38 signatures of support. It's unclear how many Mayo's had received. Both are actively recruiting support from colleagues.

Even if his proposal fails this year, Tollison said, he wanted to spark an immediate conversation about the role of the state College Board and whether it has outlived its purpose. He noted that other states already have adopted a system giving autonomy to universities. Mississippi's current model, he said, is "antiquated."

Based in Jackson, the 12-member state College Board sets the policies and oversees the finances of Mississippi's eight public universities: Alcorn State, Delta State, Jackson State, Mississippi State, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State, University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi.

Tollison argued that the eight universities have vastly different needs, are located in vastly different parts of the state, and need their own boards capable of making decisions based on each institution's unique situations.

Former Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat advocated for a similar system in a guest column he wrote for The Clarion-Ledger in which he called the state College Board's ousting of Jones an "egregious, major mistake."

"Perhaps this evil deed — clearly motived by personal and/or political reasons and not on performance — will prompt someone in a leadership position to initiate a move to transform the current dysfunctional and wasteful IHL system and authorize each university to have its own board," Khayat wrote, referring to the state Institutes of Higher Learning in which the state College Board resides.

"Clearly," he added, "the current model is a failure."

Gov. Phil Bryant also said he's open to the idea.

But IHL Commissioner Jim Borsig seemed to advise against it. In a statement to The Clarion-Ledger, Borsig wrote Tuesday that the universities can get more done together than they can separately.

"The university system is a powerful, unmatched resource for advancing Mississippi," he wrote. "With all eight universities working together, we can make greater strides in increasing educational attainment and meeting workforce needs."

And in a possible rebuke to the current legislative effort, Borsig also noted that the College Board "is free from undue influence from political, religious, or other external bodies and protects the institution from such influence."

The state College Board voted last week not to renew Jones's contract, citing what it called longstanding problems of him bypassing board approval for financial and contracting decisions.

It drew sharp criticism from numerous high-profile Ole Miss supporters, including author John Grisham, businessman Jim Barksdale, and NFL legend Archie Manning.

It also prompted the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation to rescind its $20 million grant it awarded to the university in October unless the board reinstates Jones.

State Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, already has collected some 70 signatures from House colleagues on a petition asking the board to do just that.

Contact Emily Le Coz at (601) 961-7249 or elecoz@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.