Over the years, the Kansas Board of Regents system has worked fairly well, particularly when Kansas University had a chancellor who had the leadership, knowledge, vision and ability to tell and sell the importance of education and could speak on behalf of all the regents universities. Such a chancellor was able to inspire the regents, state legislators and state taxpayers to measure up in meeting their responsibilities.

Other times, with lesser leadership from KU, all the state universities suffered and too many regents failed to perform.

However, today, no matter who might be a chancellor or president or who might be serving as regents, it is almost impossible for the Board of Regents to know what is going on at all the schools it is supposed to oversee. There’s no way, and in some cases leaders at these schools make sure the regents don’t know the full story.

The recent KU School of Business mess offers a good example. It wasn’t until a group of KU business school graduate students revealed highly irregular actions in how approximately $32 million in differential tuition funds were handled that the dean and some of the school’s faculty, along with the provost and chancellor, finally acknowledged there was a serious problem. There were other problems in the school related to the misuse of the tuition funds, all of which prompted the dean to decide to step down and return to the classroom.

Now, before the current dean leaves, many in the school have been attempting to switch or alter their positions or responsibilities to solidify their roles before the new dean steps into her office.

Do the regents have any idea of what has been going on at KU or at other state universities? Or do they rely on what the chancellor or presidents or provosts tell them about how well their respective schools are running?

For example, should the regents have any concern about the appropriateness of nepotism or hiring of spouses within the same school? What does this do to faculty morale, salaries, etc.? Is this a matter for the university’s Faculty Senate, the chancellor’s office or the regents?

Hasn’t higher education come to the point where excellence, efficiency and results are so important to faculty, students, parents and the state that some method needs to be created to make sure there is closer oversight of what goes on at the regents universities and how they are measuring up in today’s challenging environment?

Regents alone cannot get the job done. They are part-time regents; they have their own businesses and careers to take care of. They meet monthly and make a few road trips for well-planned tours of the campuses orchestrated by the chancellor or presidents. They return to their Topeka offices with glowing reports of how well all the schools and administrators are doing.

Can those who call the shots for KU, those who have the ability and want to make KU an even better institution and elevate it to be a true leader within its peer institutions that merits high national recognition, accomplish that within the present system? Why shouldn’t a degree from KU carry just as much, or more, weight as a degree from any other school? Granted, this is an oversimplified question, but the point is, KU shouldn’t have to take a backseat to any major state-aided university.

Chances are, however, that it won’t happen with the current “one size fits all” system for Kansas’ state universities. Shouldn’t each Kansas university have a separate mission? For example, Kansas State should have a goal of being the nation’s finest land grant university and be given the tools to accomplish that. KU should have a goal of being one of the nation’s finest state-aided research universities and similar missions should be set for the other regents universities. The schools are handicapped by our present regents system.

Hopefully, Gov. Brownback will consider creating advisory or oversight committees for each regents university to help the regents have a better, more thorough and timely appraisal of what is going on at the various campuses.

Without such committees, regents are being fed by the chancellor and presidents, who are not likely to find fault with their own management of the schools.

Kansas taxpayers should demand superior leadership at the schools and that the regents have a thorough knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each school, its administrators and where it needs help.

Until then, Kansas taxpayers and students are not getting a full return on their dollars, and talented, visionary and inspirational teachers will be unable to maximize their potential.

It’s time for a change in how the regents operate, and it is imperative Brownback appoint three superior, properly motivated individuals to fill three upcoming vacancies on the board.