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Should all YSU trustees be Valley residents?
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
For years, all Youngstown State University trustees were local.
That changed last year with the appointment of YSU graduate and city native Dr. Charles Bush, who divides his time between Columbus and Florida.
With Harry Meshel’s term expiring and the death of James Greene, there are two more YSU appointments before Gov. John Kasich.
So, will more out-of-towners join the board, or was Bush’s appointment a fluke?
Opinions, of course, vary.
“It’s a state university,” said Paul Dutton, a former YSU trustee who also served as a trustee at Central State University and a member of the Ohio Board of Regents.
Its constituency of students, alumni and business support should extend statewide, he said.
“It’s not just a university of the Mahoning Valley,” Dutton said. “It’s a statewide university.”
In fact, having people from outside of an area serve on a university or college board of trustees is common at Ohio’s other state institutions, he said.
Joe Andrews, a Kasich spokesman, said in an email that YSU is a major state university “and there are people outside the Valley who also think that the university is important. Of course we think that there should be people from the area on the board, but we cannot discount qualified people from other areas who have a strong interest in the university as well.”
YSU President Jim Tressel said he doesn’t know who has applied for the positions but that will play a role in whom the governor appoints
“We’ve obviously made it known that we need to expand our reach as we seek excellence in the future,” Tressel said, adding that many other state universities include trustees from outside of the community in which the university is located.
People from outside of the area may bring different perspectives to add to board discussions and decisions, Dutton said.
“We don’t have a monopoly on good ideas for the Mahoning Valley,” he said. “One might argue that we tend to be too myopic. If you’re talking to the same people all the time – people who live here, who read the same news – you may tend to have a very limited view” of how to address problems.
Dutton said he’d encourage Kasich to appoint a trustee who is a YSU graduate who has achieved success in his or her field and lives outside of the Valley.
“They would bring that out-of-town perspective,” he said.
Carole Weimer, trustees chairwoman, said diversity of all kinds is important on the board. In having all local trustees, YSU has been an anomaly among Ohio’s public universities, she said.
“Geographic diversity brings a different perspective,” Weimer said.
She said she hopes whoever is appointed has the time to devote to the job that it requires. It involves more than the quarterly committee and full board meetings, Weimer said.
“It’s important for board members to be visible at board events and community events,” she said. “But board members can also represent the board and the university in other areas.”
Meshel, whose term expires next month, said trustees need to be able to attend meetings. He doesn’t believe the meeting schedule should be altered to accommodate someone who lives out of the area.
“You can’t be a board of trustees member without being an active board member,” he said.
If someone from out of town is appointed, they need to understand YSU’s role and relationship to the community, Meshel said.
“There is that familial kind of relationship everybody has to YSU,” he said. “And that’s why they give it so much support.”
Richard McLaughlin, who served as a YSU trustee from 1987 to 1996, questions whether people who live outside of the community would want to be appointed trustee. He believes where a potential candidate lives should be a consideration in the appointment.
“If he is part of the community, he can assist and lend influence to the mission of university,” McLaughlin said.
Living locally enables a trustee to attend YSU sporting, theater, music and other events, he said.
The YSU Foundation, the private organization that raises money for the university, for example, includes people from outside of the area.
“They’re almost reluctant to participate because they don’t know enough about what’s going on at the university except what they read,” McLaughlin said.
He believes it’s important for trustees to attend events on campus.
“I think the major thrust is they should be close enough to fully participate in the work of the board,” McLaughlin said.
Another former trustee, Bruce Beeghly, believes having one or two trustees from outside of the Valley is enough.
“I don’t think it should go beyond that,” he said.
One or two trustees from outside of the area provide a different perspective on issues but “most of them should be local and know the community issues that affect the university,” Beeghly said.
Scott Schulick, who served as a trustee from 2004 to 2013, said it’s more important that good people who are dedicated to the mission of YSU are appointed whether they’re from the area or outside of it.
Trustees need to understand the importance of YSU to the region for economic development and its importance historically, he said.
“That’s a bigger concern than whether they’re from outside of the area,” Schulick said.
He said he agrees that people who are from outside of the area can offer different insights.
“I think it’s important for there to be a balance on the board, an equilibrium,” Schulick said.
Thomas Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, and a member of the Ohio Board of Regents, believes a mixture on the YSU trustees board is the best composition.
“It is critical that YSU is a local and regional campus, and needs locals on it,” he said. “I also believe it helps to have a different perspective from someone outside.”
The majority of the board, though, should be local, Humphries said.