by Scott E. Williams
Managing Editor
After spending more than 90 minutes in executive session, the University of Houston System Board of Regents (or most of it, anyway) resumed the open part of its April 24 meeting.
Fifteen minutes later, the regents had unanimously approved an entire agenda book of voting measures, one committee at a time, and the meeting was adjourned.
The board's committee system might be one reason for the open session's brevity, a system that, board Chairman Eduardo Aguirre said, was not likely to change. Aguirre said the regents will "continue to shift the bulk of this board's work to the committees."
Regents Elyse Lanier, John O'Quinn and Charles McMahen were absent from the meeting which saw, among other things, the approval of a $15 million building project in Victoria, a lowering of commission paid to the university by Canteen Corp. for revenues from on-campus vending machines and the announcement of General Commencement speaker Edward Albee.
The meeting was also the first for UH System Chancellor/UH President Arthur K. Smith, who discussed the status of search committees formed in recent months to fill positions throughout the System.
One such position is that of general counsel, the search committee for which will be chaired by former General Counsel Jim Crowther, who received only $1 for the position.
Smith, apparently in sync with those who sat in the University Hilton's Shamrock Room during the executive session, suggested the board revise its policy in regards to the scheduling of executive session. Smith said future board meetings should begin with executive session and begin the open session "no earlier than 9:30 a.m.," rather than go from open session to closed session and back to open, so as to prevent long waiting periods for observers.
"This would allow UH university and System personnel with a legitimate reason to be here to know (the open portion of the meeting) will start at 9:30 and not have to wait in the interim, as was the case today," Smith said.
The board kept with the tradition of the meeting and voted its unanimous approval of the measure.