Shifting broad powers to the chancellor of the North Dakota University System would be "a great step backward," the higher education board president said Tuesday.
John Q. Paulsen said he opposes a proposed constitutional amendment that would transfer most of the state Board of Higher Education's authority to the chancellor.
Paulsen said the Board has not taken a position on the proposal and he was speaking only for himself.
"To create a system which would give any chancellor such total control of that system does not seem to me to be a wise direction for the state of North Dakota and our people," Paulsen said.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Bob Skarphol, R-Tioga, would give the chancellor broad authority, including hiring and firing presidents, changing academic courses and revising budgets of campuses.
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Board Vice President Bev Clayburgh said she thinks legislators will see the negative impact the amendment would have on the university system.
"I hope it goes nowhere," Clayburgh said of the proposal.
The North Dakota Student Association has taken a stance against the proposed amendment, said President Bobby Haskins.
Students have concerns about giving the chancellor full authority to raise tuition and fees, Haskins said.
The amendment would take away existing checks and balances by limiting the Board's authority to hiring and firing the chancellor, Haskins said.
"We don't have a problem with the way the Board has been acting," said Haskins, a University of North Dakota student. "We don't see the necessity of this change. The system's working."
Skarphol's proposal stems from criticism he heard of the Board's handling of a dispute with former Chancellor Robert Potts.
Potts resigned last August because of disagreements with some board members over the scope of his authority.
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"With the system we have, any individual who assumes the job of chancellor has to be more concerned about not wrinkling the wrong feathers than he does about what's in the best interests of the university system, and of the citizens of North Dakota," Skarphol told the Associated Press.
Chancellor Eddie Dunn said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the proposed amendment until the Board has discussed it and taken a position on it.
The chancellor's cabinet - made up of the college and university presidents - did not take a stance on the amendment last week.
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Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590
