After missing the last two Board of Regents meetings — which included votes to increase tuition and fees — officials on Friday announced Subhash Sahai is resigning.
Sahai, appointed in 2013, was in the final year of his six-year term. Before his resignation, Sahai’s recent absences had him close to being “deemed to have submitted a resignation” — according to state attendance rules.
Sahai has missed half of the full board meetings in 2018 — including a two-day meeting in April in Council Bluffs and the subsequent three-day meeting this week in Cedar Falls.
Rules governing Iowa’s boards and commissions state a person effectively resigns if they miss three or more consecutive regular meetings — so long as the meetings occur at least 30 days apart. That means Sahai would effectively have resigned had he missed the next meeting in August — a fact The Gazette reported Friday before an announcement of his resignation.
“Regent Sahai has been a valuable member of the Board of Regents,” board President Mike Richards said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that he will not be able to complete his term, but we respect his decision. He has served this Board with distinction and we wish him well.”
Board officials said Sahai’s resignation was unrelated to reporting on his absences.
Sahai, a family practice physician in Webster City who also holds the title of clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family Practice at the UI Carver College of Medicine, has not responded to requests for comment from The Gazette.
The volunteer regents oversee Iowa’s three public universities — including setting tuition — and the state’s two special schools. They are appointed by the governor and must be confirmed by the Iowa Senate.
State rules involving board and committee membership also disqualify members for missing more than half of the regular meetings in a year, beginning either July 1 or Jan. 1.
Since his appointment five years ago, Sahai has missed at least one day of 12 meetings requiring full board attendance — many of which last two days — including all of two of the four meetings to date in 2018 and at least part of seven of the 17 full board meetings held since the start of 2017.
In all of 2017, Sahai missed at least one day of five of the 13 full board meetings, according to Board of Regents meeting minutes. Between July 1 and this week’s meeting — the last of the budget year — Sahai missed some portion of three of the 10 full board meetings.
For comparison, Regent Larry McKibben — appointed at the same time as Sahai — has missed one meeting over his 5-plus years on the board. That absence came back in October 2013, shortly after he was appointed. Regent Milk Dakovich, also appointed in 2013, has missed two days.
The Board of Regents calls its enterprise “Iowa’s most powerful and comprehensive resource for educational opportunities and economic growth.” The five schools it oversees annually enroll more than 81,000 students, employ more than 48,000 people, and engage in research and technology endeavors that offer Iowans “diverse cultural, recreational, athletic, and entertainment activates.”
The board also overseas the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa’s only teaching hospital under the $1.4 billion UI Health Care system, the largest in the state.
The regent enterprise budget for 2018 tops $5.8 billion — including $3.1 billion in general operating funds. Of the system’s $3.1 billion operating revenue, nearly 65 percent comes from tuition and fees and about 31 percent from state appropriations — meaning taxpayer dollars.
The board recently approved across-the-board tuition increases — including 3.8 percent hikes for resident undergraduates at University of Iowa and Iowa State University and a 2.8 percent increase for that population of students at University of Northern Iowa.
Sahai was absent for both the first and second readings on the tuition and fees increase. In the meetings he’s missed in April and June, the board also elected a new board president and president pro tem; approved residence hall and board rate increases on all three campuses; adopted a new policy barring entities like credit unions from using university names; decided how to split an $8.3 million Legislative appropriation for the upcoming budget year among the three universities; and evaluated the presidents’ performance — among many other things.
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