Editorial: The regents can benefit NU and Nebraska by rejecting Pillen's CRT proposal

[Omaha Steve]

https://omaha.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-the-regents-can-benefit-nu-and-nebraska-by-rejecting-pillens-crt-proposal/article_019c08bc-fad3-11eb-91be-7fd4c50c78b4.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

University of Nebraska regents are under great pressure this week from both sides in the debate over critical race theory. Four key considerations loom large on whether to approve the resolution against CRT from Regent Jim Pillen.

Those considerations all show that the responsible course is to vote "no" on the Pillen resolution. By rejecting the proposal, the regents would benefit NU and Nebraska in four important ways.

• A "no" vote would maintain the regents' proper role. The regents' role is to set overall strategic vision for the university system and oversee top-level management and budget duties. The Board of Regents has performed that task capably this century even with changes in its membership following elections. Regents have rightly left administrative decisions — and curricular matters — to NU chancellors and faculty. Approval of the Pillen resolution would break with that tradition. Such a step would erode the proper authority of the individual campuses and harm relations between the regents and NU administrative leaders. This would be a dangerous step by NU's governing board.

• A "no" vote would insulate NU from politics. America's modern political culture is lamentably marred by heavy doses of cynicism, rancor and ill will. Saying "yes" to a politically driven showcase such as the Pillen resolution would pull NU governance into a political mud pit. This policy question should be decided on grounds far more substantial and serious than "Jim Pillen needs a win on this issue so he can defeat Charles Herbster in the GOP gubernatorial primary."

FULL editorial at link above.