The University of Minnesota Board of Regents is looking into a potential ban on former regents taking jobs with the university after David McMillan left the board in June to become interim chancellor of the Duluth campus.
Darrin Rosha, one of two regents who opposed McMillan’s two-year appointment amid significant public scrutiny, is pushing for the ban. It would send the message to the public that regents are “not here for personal advancement but they’re here to advance the interests of the institution,” he said Friday during a board governance committee meeting.
Board associate Jason Langworthy researched the matter for the board and found a few examples of peer institutions that prohibit such arrangements.
At Penn State University, former trustees must wait five years before taking a job with the university, unless the board waives the rule. The University of Iowa has a two-year ban, and Michigan State one year.
Other Big Ten schools and peer universities have no such prohibition on paid employment for former regents, Langworthy said.
Minnesota’s House of Representatives has a rule barring former lawmakers from working as lobbyists for one year after their service ends, while the Senate has no such rule.
Langworthy said a situation such as McMillan’s is distinct from lawmaker lobbying bans because there is no “shift in the duty of loyalty;” regents who become university employees still are advancing the interests of the university, not some outside group.
Rosha noted two previous regents, Josie Johnson and Chuck Casey, also went on to work for the university, but that was several years after their board service ended and under different administrations.
“Those didn’t cause the same prospective concern of the recent transition from the board into a highly paid administrative role,” Rosha said. “I don’t think that helps the university. I think that the public concern that comes from those things is a real concern.”
When the board approved McMillan’s appointment in July, Rosha proposed a five-year ban on paid university employment by former regents.
It’s unclear whether the board, which voted 9-2 to approve McMillan’s appointment in July, will give serious consideration to Rosha’s proposal or something like it. They did not vote on the matter Friday and did not say when they’d discuss it again.
Regent Steve Sviggum was forced to leave the board in 2012 after fellow regents found his work as spokesman for the GOP Senate Caucus created a conflict of interest. Now back on the board, he argued against a ban on regents emeriti accepting university employment.
“I think the answer is public disclosure,” he said. “Let’s not restrict the university from getting talent or yourselves sitting here from your opportunity to make a living in the future.”
Regents are elected by the Legislature and serve six-year terms without pay.
