Massachusetts. Board of Regents of Higher Education

In 1980 public higher education in Massachusetts was reorganized. The Executive Office of Educational Affairs and agencies grouped under it with responsibility for higher education--the Board of Higher Education, the Board of Trustees of State Colleges, the Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges, and the separate boards of trustees of the University of Massachusetts, Southeastern Massachusetts University, and the University of Lowell--were abolished and their functions and powers transferred to the newly created Board of Regents of Higher Education (St 1980, c 329, s 112). It was felt that centralized control would help the state better to manage public higher education in a time of declining appropriations and would at the same time improve the governance structure by eliminating competing statutory authority among the existing agencies. In addition to creating a central board, the legislation provided for each institution to have a board of trustees comprised of nine members appointed by the governor. While their powers were to be defined by the regents, it was hoped that the individual boards would help strike a balance between the centralized board and local representation.

Members of the Board of Regents, originally fifteen in number, were appointed by the governor to serve five-year terms. Membership to the board was further defined by St 1983, c 646, which stipulated that at least one of the fifteen members be a representative from organized labor, and by St 1985, c 609, s 1, which increased membership of the board to sixteen to include a full-time undergraduate student from a public institution of higher education.

The Board of Regents was given broad powers both to coordinate and to govern the "system" of public higher education in Massachusetts. Its functions and powers include appointing and delegating authority to a chancellor of the board; delegating to institutional boards of trustees the power to confer degrees on students completing degree requirements; approving new academic programs; terminating programs, divisions, and public institutions themselves; establishing admission standards for the system; having responsibility for all real property used by the system; administering all grants, gifts, and trusts received from private foundations; recommending a unified budget for public higher education to the governor and legislature, receiving an annual budget appropriation, and disbursing funds to individual institutions; establishing tuition levels throughout the system; administering all state scholarship programs; establishing personnel policies throughout the system and conducting negotiations for all collective bargaining agreements; and preparing five-year plans for the system.

The Board of Regents of Higher Education has varying degrees of authority over the designated system of public institutions of higher education that includes the following institutions: University of Massachusetts, University of Lowell, Southeastern Massachusetts University, Bridgewater State College, Fitchburg State College, Framingham State College, Massachusetts College of Art, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, North Adams State College, Salem State College, Westfield State College, Worcester State College, Berkshire Community College, Bristol Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Massasoit Community College, Middlesex Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, Northern Essex Community College, North Shore Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, Roxbury Community College, and Springfield Tech Community College.

In addition the regents have limited authority over independent colleges and universities, including the authority to issue and revoke charters and to review and vote on proposals for new academic programs not covered in an institution's charter.

The activities and functions of the board are carried out under the direction of a chancellor appointed by the regents and by vice chancellors who oversee the areas of planning and program development, academic and student affairs, and fiscal affairs and management. In addition there is a general counsel, and administrators in charge of public relations, affirmative action, and employee relations.