Board of Regents appoints three women: Incomplete
Four new members were sworn in by the UH System Board of Regents on Tuesday.
The new regents, who were appointed by Gov. Rick Perry on Jan. 28, are lawyers Jacob Monty, Carroll Robertson Ray, Nelda Blair and Mica Mosbacher, a philanthropist.
That’s right. Three of the appointees are women.
According to the 2007 Status of Women at the University report, which used numbers from the 2006 President’s Annual Report, the Board of Regents had one female to nine male regents.
At the highest level of administration there are eight males to one female, and there are 14 male deans to one female.
The gender disparity is evident at almost all levels of leadership.
"The University Commission on Women recommends that qualified women should be considered whenever administrative or faculty positions are open," reads the women’s report.
The University likes to toot its own horn about how diverse it is. And while that may be true when it comes to the ethnic makeup of students, it is not reflected in leadership positions.
However, the appointment of three women to the Board of Regents is a great start.
University just says ‘no’: A
Officials at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business will no longer accept tobacco money for student groups or faculty research, The New York Times reported.
The fact that UT is refusing to take funds shows that the university is taking a principled stance based on ethics against big businesses and is a step in the right direction.
The banning of Philips Morris’ funds came about when the company asked to sponsor more events on campus and have more of a presence among students.
While universities are dependent on funds from private and business entities, UT’s questioning of the Philip Morris’ involvement in the tobacco industry shows it has a moral compass.
"What it came down to for us was the ethical dimension," George W. Gau, dean of UT’s business school, told the New York Times. "The leadership of the school felt that in some sense it was tainted with money, that it is money gotten from a product that is significantly harming people."
Rather than bend to Philip Morris’ demands, UT’s example will hopefully teach other universities across the country to not be a slave to tainted money.
