Although Gov. John Engler is a proud MSU alumnus, he should stop meddling with the MSU Board of Trustees as if he were playing his personal game of political chess.
It was announced Thursday the lame-duck governor will likely appoint Trustee Robert Weiss, a long-time Democrat, to fill a judgeship in Genesee County.
If Weiss accepts the bench appointment, he would have to resign his spot on the board.
The Democrat’s resignation would allow Engler, a Republican, to fill the opening.
If Engler were to appoint a Republican, it would give MSU’s governing board a 5-to-3 GOP majority.
This anticipated move wouldn’t be Engler’s first attempt at tilting the MSU board in favor of his party.
In 2000, Engler appointed former Democratic Trustee Bob Traxler to a spot on the Mackinac Island Parks Commission, and filled his seat with Republican Trustee Scott Romney.
The Birmingham Republican’s appointment split party representation on the board 4-4.
That move is credited by some for helping Romney get elected to the board in the November 2000 statewide election because it allowed him to run as an incumbent.
Typically, incumbents are elected to university boards because voters not affiliated with the schools don’t pay close attention to the candidates.
The appointment of a GOP representative to the board would make MSU the only one of Michigan’s top three research universities to be governed by a Republican majority.
We find Engler’s political meddling to be disgraceful and unacceptable.
We urge the chief executive to maintain the partisan equilibrium that exists on board by appointing another Democrat in Weiss’ place.
Party politics do not belong on a university governing board and votes typically are not made along party lines.
The last time the board split along party lines was in 1997, when it approved domestic partner benefits for the university’s gay and lesbian faculty. The vote was 5-3, Democrats over Republicans.
Weiss, who has earned a reputation for being one of most outspoken board members, has embodied every characteristic of a good and respectable policy-maker since he was first elected to the position in 1988.
On one occasion he pulled out his checkbook in the middle of a meeting to make a donation to the MSU Food Bank, which had just finished making a presentation to the board about its need for more funding.
Although people didn’t always agree with Weiss’ views, they could expect to hear an honest and up-front opinion from the former Genesee County prosecutor.
Weiss will be remembered for his time at MSU as a trustee students could trust.
Engler, on the other hand, may not be as worthy.
