By Oyin Awosika

At its monthly meeting on Nov. 7, the University Senate discussed the next steps after a tumultuous week during which President Loh announced his plan to retire in June 2019 and fired football coach DJ Durkin in the wake of the controversy over Jordan McNair’s death.

The Senate discussed resolutions that would make the Board of Regents more accountable and ensure a smooth transition to a new president. Among the resolutions was to ask the Maryland General Assembly to reconsider the process through which Board of Regents members are selected and held accountable so that the board will be more responsive to the needs and demands of the UMD community.

This agreement comes shortly after the Board of Regents reportedly attempted to force President Loh to keep DJ Durkin by threatening to remove him from his post if he did not retain Durkin as the head football coach. Many students and faculty members agreed that this action was an abuse of the Board of Regents authority over university presidents in the University System of Maryland.

As it currently stands, the members of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents are appointed by the governor. However, in the aftermath of Jordan McNair’s death and the subsequent investigation commissioned by the board, some members of the UMD community believe this method will no longer suffice.

“I definitely think the Board of Regents overstepped their authority last week,” said junior government and politics major, David Pontious, “I think there needs to be changes and a greater culture of accountability when it comes to the Board of Regents.”

Sasha Kahn, a junior agriculture and government and politics double major, said that last week showed the Board of Regents is “not in line with the people at this university.”

“It might be in line with some alumni, it might be aligned with some political figures in the state but it’s not aligned with the community at this university and I think that that’s not good,” said Kahn. who is also an undergraduate senator for the Behavioral and Social Sciences College. “We’d like to have a little more oversight of the committee process of the choosing of the Board of Regents because at present the Board of Regents is basically just the governor’s friends.”

The University Senate also agreed to advise that President Loh should continue with his plan to retire in June 2019.