ST. PAUL, Minn. – Today, the Minnesota House and Senate held a joint convention to fill a vacancy on the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents. This followed a joint meeting of the House and Senate higher education committees on Monday when candidates for the First Congressional District position were screened. The joint committee recommended two of them: Mary Davenport, interim president of Rochester Community and Technical College and Dr. Brooks Edwards, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist. Instead of electing one of the two recommended candidates, Republicans nominated on the floor and then elected their preferred candidate: Randy Simonson, CEO of Cambridge Technologies in Worthington.
Rep. Jen Schultz (DFL – Duluth) released the following statement:
“Members of the Board of Regents should be uniquely qualified to handle the U of M’s complexities and its mission while reflecting our state’s diversity. Today, Republicans anointed a candidate to the board who was recommended neither by first district legislators nor the joint higher education committee. I was left troubled by Mr. Simonson’s suggestions that campuses may need to close, and that the U should shy away from important, lifesaving research.
“It’s also deeply disappointing that only two regents are women, and this needs to change. I plan to continue working on reforms ensuring we have diverse, qualified candidates to advance the needs of our valued land-grant university, not the wants of partisan politicians.”