With the exception of the ex officio
members, the remainder of the members
of the twenty-two boards, or approxi-
mately 52 per cent, are elected in some
manner. A breakdown by type of elec-
tion may be seen in Table 8-A. Worthy
Table 8-A
Selection According to Total Number
of Members
Number Percent-
Methods of age of
of Selection Members Total
Appointed by governor 143 40%
Elected by popular vote 31 8
Elected by state legislature 126 35
Elected by alumni 15 4
Elected by special group 17 5
Ex officio 30 8
Total 362 100%
of note is the large number, 126 (or 35
per cent of board members), elected by
state legislatures. North Carolina, with
its 100 legislatively-elected members and
a board three times as large as the next
largest state university board, greatly
increases this percentage. Also note-
worthy is that four boards, in the states
of Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska,
select trustees by popular vote.
Election by the state legislature, as
seen in Table 8-B, is used in choosing
Table 8-B
Selection Policy According to Board
Methods Number Percentage
of Selection* of Boards of Total
Appointed 13 59%
Elected by popular vote 4 18
Elected by legislature 3 14
Elected by special group 2 9
Total 22 100%
* Many of these boards have a minority
of members selected in one or more of
several different ways. Each board was cate-
gorized, however, on the basis of the method
of selection of the majority of its members.
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the members of only three (or 14 per
cent) of the twenty-two institutional
boards examined. In terms of the type
of board, it is interesting to note that 73
per cent of the governing-coordinating
boards (of which the University of
North Carolina Board is one) employ
the appointive method for selection of
all or some part of their board.
The last of the six methods of selec-
tion is ex officio membership. Ex officio
members constitute 8 per cent of the
total board membership and are found
on 50 per cent of the twenty-two insti-
tutional boards examined. Ten per cent
more of the governing-coordinating
boards have ex officio members than do
the governing boards. The six Southern
boards have the highest percentage,
with ex officio members on 66 per cent
of them.
It is apparent that little unanimity
exists as to the best method of selecting
trustees. Perhaps the lack of uniformity
reflects what should be obvious: Each
system has evolved from a political,
economic, and educational background
peculiar to its state. Perhaps this ex-
plains why Moos and Rourke, in a study
of public institutions of higher educa-
tion and American state governments,
report that "an overwhelming majority
of regents in favor of the method by
which their own boards were selected."8
Nevertheless, Martorana and Hollis rec-
ommend from their study on state
boards, that "the appointive process
produces a better quality of interest and
balance of background experience
among board members than does the
elective process."9
8 M. moos & F. rourke. the campus
and the state 304 (1959).
9 martorana & hollis, supra note 4, at
29.
283
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