than six years of such a term shall be
eligible for reappointment."28 Virginia
also has a limitation on service, not per-
mitting more than two terms in succes-
sion, although after a lapse, another two
terms may be served.29 The commenta-
tors on trusteeship who were read ex-
pressed no opinion on the advisability of
successive terms.
QUALIFICATIONS OF BOARD MEMBERS
Seventeen of the twenty-two boards
(or 77 per cent) have special require-
ments that must be satisfied in the selec-
tion of at least a portion of their trustees
in order for the board to be legally con-
stituted. It is interesting to note that
only 43 per cent of the governing boards
(as opposed to 93 per cent of the
governing-coordinating boards) have
special qualifications. This large differ-
ential is most likely attributable to what
is deemed a need for proper balance in
a board responsible for two or more in-
stitutional units. Where there is a po-
tential for conferring benefit on one in-
stitution at the expense of another, state
legislatures apparently think it neces-
sary to add external controls to insure
equitable decision-making. (See Table
8-C).
Table 8-C
Individual Qualifications of Board Members
Type o/ Qualification Number of Boards
Residence within a state
and/or specified district 10
Alumni status 5
Bipartisan 4
Sex 2
Conflicting allegiances 2
Profession or occupation 1
The special requirements prescribed
by law can be classified by seven types:
28 ohio code ann. §3335.02 (1963).
29 va. code ann. §§23-69 (1950).
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1 . Residence within a state and/or
specified district ;
2. Alumni status;
3. Bipartisan representation ;
4. Sex;
5. Prohibition of conflicting alle-
giance; and
6. Profession or occupation.
The most frequently required qualifi-
cation is that of residence, which is
found in 45 per cent of all boards,
where the law often requires not only
state citizenship but also residence in a
specific county or congressional district
as well. In some cases, as for the Trus-
tees of Purdue University, the law re-
quires qualifications with respect to sex,
profession, institution attended, and
residence. Most boards, however, have
only one requirement to satisfy in order
to be legally constituted. The Board of
Trustees of the University of North
Carolina is one of these. It is required
by the state statute to have at least ten
women among the 100 members elected
by the state legislature.30
It has been suggested that qualifica-
tions for board membership such as sex,
residence, or possession of a degree from
a particular university are undesirable
restrictions on the process of selecting
members of institutional governing
boards.31 When an attempt is made to
achieve such goals as a board balanced
with respect to geography or sex or a
board with members who have an in-
tense pride and interest in the school,
the more important goal of selecting the
most able people is sometimes frustrated
by eliminating from consideration indi-
viduals who cannot satisfy these require-
30 N.C. gen. stat. §116-4 (1966).
31 See martorana & hollis, supra note 4,
at 32.
287
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