The board of a small college lacks diversity? Quick! Someone do something!

Ashley A. Smith reports at Inside Higher Ed.

Board Tussle Over Race

At Milwaukee Area Technical College, more than half of the students are from the city of Milwaukee. Most are minorities. And low income. Yet many at the college are concerned their interests aren’t — and can’t — be addressed by a college district board that disenfranchises those communities.

So a coalition of Milwaukee-area community leaders and students and faculty from the college want new legislation to alter the MATC board appointment process to restore the balance of power to align with the college and city’s demographics. Some members of the coalition lay the blame at the feet of the local chamber of commerce.

“This is a public institution that should be controlled by the citizens it serves and they want it controlled by one small slice of the business community,” said Michael Rosen, an economics instructor at the college and president of the local branch of the American Federation of Teachers, a faculty union. “There have always been major employers on the board, but they wanted control over the board. It’s really a corporate takeover.”

The MATC board composition wasn’t always so controversial. But in 2011 the two-year college was singled out from the other 15 members of the Wisconsin Technical College System by the state’s Legislature, which changed the appointment process for the institution. Prior to the change, the nine-member board consisted of one K-12 school district administrator, one elected official, three at-large members, two employers and two employees.