The University Record, October 29, 1996
Seven vie for two seats on Board of Regents
Seven people, including one incumbent, are running for seats on the Board of Regents in the Nov. 5 election. Regent Nellie M. Varner, who has served on the Board for 16 years, is not running for re-election. The candidates are:
Deane Baker
Baker, an Ann Arbor Republican, has served on the Board for 24 years. He lists a number of issues that he says the Regents must confront in the near future, first and foremost the selection of the next president.
In addition, the University “must adapt its teaching hospital to a rapidly changing and highly competitive market.” Baker also cites cost-containment”the University must remain affordable and accessible”maintaining high quality economic programs, Value Centered Management and the continual improvement of undergraduate education as areas of importance for the University.
During his tenure, he has been vocal in his opposition to the creation of a student code of conduct. Baker also led a fight against Regent’s Bylaw 14.06, which extended anti-discrimination protection to lesbians and gay males and benefits to homosexual partners of U-M employees.
Baker is president of Ann Arbor Group Inc., a real estate development company, and received a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
Michael Bishop
“I have a passion for keeping the University the same school that I attended. It’s a personal thing for me,” Bishop says of his candidacy for a spot on the Board of Regents. He adds that he wants “to make the University even stronger for everyone” and “accessible to all who want a quality education.”
The Republican from Rochester says he opposes the expansion of health benefits to unwed domestic partners.
He supports efforts to ensure that faculty hiring and student enrollment are “based solely on individual merit.”
Bishop stresses the importance of creating a written policy concerning the hiring and firing of administrators, and the role of the Regents in the process. “I oppose any efforts to distract the University from its number-one priority education,” he adds.
Bishop is an attorney and earned a B.A. in history from the U-M and a J.D. from the Detroit College of Law.
William W. Hall
Hall, a Libertarian from Rockford, says that maintaining control of spending at the University would be his primary concern as Regent. “Spending at the University of Michigan is spiraling out of control,” he says.
“The students and their parents can’t support this. The taxpayers can’t support this . . . The Board of Regents is responsible and must act decisively, to eliminate waste, downsize or cancel programs which are not meeting goals, and refocus resources on those educational programs which do, or can, provide the most benefit.”
Hall adds that the U-M must decrease its reliance on state tax dollars by “focusing on increasing the University’s private endowment and other non-tuition sources of revenue,” but continue to offer “a good education at a good price.”
Hall is an attorney who earned an A.B. from Wabash College and a J.D. from Northwestern University.
Calvin J. Matle
Matle, a West Bloomfield Libertarian, says that if elected he would focus on money issues facing the University.
“The really big, big issue is money how it’s allocated, how it’s acquired,” he says. “In the situation you have right now, some of the taxpayer money is going right to the U-M system, but a tremendous amount of it is squandered.
“There is money spent on projects that have nothing to do with students. Students basically live in poverty, then you sack them with a high tuition bill,” he adds. Matle says that undergraduate education should be the primary concern of the University.
Matle is president of Matle Marketing. He earned a B.A. in history from the U-M and a M.B.A. from the American Graduate School of International Management.
Olivia P. Maynard
Maynard says she is running for a Board seat because the “University has had a value in my life.” The Democrat from Goodrich earned a B.A. in political science from George Washington University and an M.S.W. from the U-M. She was also an adjunct faculty member at the U-M in 1991–93, when she served on the School of Social Work Dean Search Committee.
She says that accessibility of education is one of the University’s major challenges, including fiscal accessibility and assuring the diversity of faculty and students. “We need to make sure that the U-M is a teaching university as well as a world-class research university.”
In addition, the Medical Center is another area of importance for Maynard. “Because of the changes and uncertainty in the delivery of health care, the Medical Center needs to be integrated and remain a part of the University family, while maintaining its high quality,” she says.
Maynard is president of the Michigan Prospect for Renewed Citizenship, a policy institute.
The Record was unable to reach Natural Law Party candidate William Quarton and Democratic candidate S. Martin Taylor.
