"Now it turns out that even the process by which the regents themselves are chosen has a tremendous transparency problem."

SF Chronicle:"Follow the law, Gov. Brown"
http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Follow-the-law-Gov-Brown-11214645.php
Includes:
"But it seems the governor isn’t following this provision of the state Constitution.

Six advisory committee members whom The Chronicle were able to reach said they haven’t been consulted in the selection of any of the governor’s regents.

Instead, they were told who the new regents would be shortly before the governor’s public announcement.

The governor’s office said he “welcomes input” from the committee before issuing the public announcements.


Brown may not be alone in ignoring this state constitutional provision.

According to our interviews with previous advisory committee members, previous governors also failed to consult with them on regent selections. Some previous members said the committee had failed to meet during their tenures and questioned whether it had ever met at all.

This oversight failure has had a negative outcome on the regents board. The 18 appointed regents fit a specific profile: wealthy executives, financiers or attorneys.

Considering this narrow milieu, some of their recent tone-deaf decisions, like charging the university thousands of dollars for pricey parties and dinners, make more sense. But it’s inappropriate behavior in a state with high poverty rates and a struggling middle class. These are precisely the kinds of reasons why voters want more public accountability — as they decided in 1974.

Most importantly, California’s Constitution is not a list of suggestions for our elected leaders.

In a society subject to the rule of law, its provisions must be followed. The state’s courts may have to correct this, and we urge them to look into it."

Earlier:
http://cloudminder.blogspot.com/2017/06/most-of-26-regents-who-run-university.html