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Board of Regents: No merger of chancellor, president in progress
By: Meagan O'Toole-Pitts
Issue date: 6/3/09 Section: News
Discussions among Board of Regents members about a possible merger of the chancellor and president positions are not new, said the spokesperson for the Board of Regents and for the chancellor, Tuesday.
"There is an ongoing, long-standing conversation about a merger," said Rod Davis, spokesperson for the Board of Regents and for the chancellor, and director of communications. "It was mentioned at a routine meeting, but it's been mentioned many times."
The possibility of a merger of chancellor and president has come up in discussion before and has come again to try to get the system through hard economic times, Davis said.
"Because of the economy they've been looking at a lot of options," Davis said. "But it would require board action; it's not on their agenda."
A merger of the two positions has not been proposed or approved by the Board of Regents, Davis said, and therefore doesn't exist.
"There's nothing happening other than a discussion, and it's an old conversation," Davis said. "Talking about a cost-cutting idea doesn't mean it's anything near what you should call a reality. If any changes were to occur, it would require a formal proposal and it's nowhere near that. If anything were to change we would post it on our system Web site, send out a news release, and we don't have any reason to post it to our Web site."
It is legally required that the Board of Regents post a proposal on the system Web site, www.tamus.edu, Davis said.
"It was brought up at a working meeting, around May 20, in which they were talking about budgetary ideas," Davis said. "Rudder and Williams both shared those duties."
The chancellor and president positions at the University have been merged twice before in the past.
"It's not like it hasn't happened before," Davis said. "[The Board of Regents] is trying to keep education quality high at A&M. The next legislative session, 2011, will be a lot tougher. Everyone's concerned about the state budget and how it will affect the universities. If it dropped, everyone would have to tighten their budgets so they're looking at how to keep education at top quality at A&M."
"There is an ongoing, long-standing conversation about a merger," said Rod Davis, spokesperson for the Board of Regents and for the chancellor, and director of communications. "It was mentioned at a routine meeting, but it's been mentioned many times."
The possibility of a merger of chancellor and president has come up in discussion before and has come again to try to get the system through hard economic times, Davis said.
"Because of the economy they've been looking at a lot of options," Davis said. "But it would require board action; it's not on their agenda."
A merger of the two positions has not been proposed or approved by the Board of Regents, Davis said, and therefore doesn't exist.
"There's nothing happening other than a discussion, and it's an old conversation," Davis said. "Talking about a cost-cutting idea doesn't mean it's anything near what you should call a reality. If any changes were to occur, it would require a formal proposal and it's nowhere near that. If anything were to change we would post it on our system Web site, send out a news release, and we don't have any reason to post it to our Web site."
It is legally required that the Board of Regents post a proposal on the system Web site, www.tamus.edu, Davis said.
"It was brought up at a working meeting, around May 20, in which they were talking about budgetary ideas," Davis said. "Rudder and Williams both shared those duties."
The chancellor and president positions at the University have been merged twice before in the past.
"It's not like it hasn't happened before," Davis said. "[The Board of Regents] is trying to keep education quality high at A&M. The next legislative session, 2011, will be a lot tougher. Everyone's concerned about the state budget and how it will affect the universities. If it dropped, everyone would have to tighten their budgets so they're looking at how to keep education at top quality at A&M."
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