Time's up


This didn't seem to be so hard two years ago.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm has known ever since she was re-elected last November that she would need to replace Jerry Campbell and Roger Kesseler on CMU's Board of Trustees.

But as we near the Ides of March, CMU is the only major state university without a stable governing board, as Campbell and Kesseler still hold interim titles since their terms expired on Dec. 31.

Granholm announced on March 8 her appointments to the Grand Valley State and Ferris State governing boards, making them the fifth and sixth state universities checked off Granholm's list. The governor also has named appointments to Northern Michigan, Lake Superior State, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan, leaving CMU as the lone big-name state university still on the list.

Citizens elect the board members for the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

The question left to this governing board: What is taking so long?

It only took until Jan. 28 in 2005 for Granholm to name Marilyn Hubbard and Sam Kottamasu to the board.

A Granholm spokesperson said, for a Feb. 14 story in Central Michigan Life, the governor still was reviewing applications.

That was a full month ago.

In the meantime, CMU's board already has convened once this year, with no input from the two replacements who still remain unnamed.

Granholm needs to name these replacements as soon as possible.

Because with many important issues sure to be heard by the board at its April meeting, people in interim positions shouldn't be making the decisions.

It needs to be the people who will be here for years to come.

Share: