Gov. Bill Haslam signs transformative college overhaul

COOKEVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam signed his plan to overhaul college governance Wednesday, laying the groundwork for a summer that promises to transform the landscape of public higher education in Tennessee.

Flanked by a top state lawmaker and the president of Tennessee Technological University, Haslam said his plan — known as the Focus on College and University Success, or FOCUS, Act — would make the six universities overseen by the Tennessee Board of Regents more "nimble and and able to react to a changing world.

"This is a historic day," Haslam told a friendly audience in the university's nursing building. "We're here today to launch this movement to let great universities like Tennessee Tech have their own leadership and initiative focused on achieving the full potential of that university."

Under the FOCUS plan, the six universities in the Board of Regents system, including Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State and Middle Tennessee State universities, will getting their own boards that will oversee tuition, hiring and firing of presidents and other issues. The Board of Regents will continue to oversee the state's network of 13 community colleges and 27 technical colleges.

Questions outnumber answers for Haslam college plan

In an interview after the ceremonial signing, Haslam said he would spend the summer recruiting leaders who will play key roles in the transition into the new structure.

Haslam will appoint eight of the 10 members in each university board. He said that process is already underway. That process will continue through the summer, with an announcement of appointments later this year and confirmation from the General Assembly in 2017. The governor also will be involved in the selection of a new chancellor for the Board of Regents and a permanent leader for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, which will be tasked with representing the state's interests in an increasingly competitive higher education environment.

Critics of the plan, including TSU President Glenda Glover, have expressed concern that the individual universities will have to compete against the intact University of Tennessee system for state resources. But Haslam and other officials have said the commission, together with strong board members, would ensure that competition isn't lopsided.

Tennessee Tech President Philip Oldham praised Haslam on Wednesday for proposing the FOCUS Act, which he portrayed as an extension of the governor's other high-profile moves in higher education. Oldham, who has been one of the most vocal and dependable supporters for the plan, said his university would be able to act "with a little more fidelity and speed" with an independent board, which he said "basically cuts out one layer" of bureaucracy that existed under the Board of Regents.

Oldham said that it could take two years to establish a new academic program with the current structure. That is too slow to compete effectively with private universities for students' interest, he said.

"Anything that we slow down, actually costs not only time but money and opportunity for students," Oldham said. "The more we can control locally and manage, we believe we can just do a quicker and better job."

University officials and others are working through the summer to navigate the complicated business of revamping the Board of Regents, which has existed in its current form since 1972. Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, who carried the FOCUS Act through the House and was at the event Wednesday, said the law changed 32 chapters of Tennessee code.

Haslam has convened a task force to oversee the transition to the new structure, and multiple universities, including TSU and Tennessee Tech, have followed suit with their own groups. Officials at the Board of Regents also are meeting to consider their new roles.

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Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-72-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.