LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 26 – 27, 2014, Page 4

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leadership for their cooperation throughout the review process and requesting a clean copy of the final
document for the commission records.
59. Appointment of CUS College and University Regents (14-2722)
In a June 7, 2014 emailed letter, a member of a Concordia University System (CUS) board of regents
submitted four questions regarding the appointment of members of college and university regents by the
boards of regents, also noting differences in the Synod Bylaws between such appointments of seminary
regents and appointments of college/university regents.
Question 1:

May appointed members of boards of regents of CUS schools vote on additional board
appointments?

Opinion: While Bylaw 3.10.4.2 [4] prohibits appointed members of seminary boards of regents from
voting on the appointment of other members of the board, there is no corresponding prohibition in Bylaw
3.10.5.2 [3], which governs the appointment of additional members by college and university boards of
regents. Bylaw 3.10.5.3 is to be read as its stands. Appointed members of boards of regents of CUS
schools are not prohibited from voting on additional board appointments.
Question 2:

May members of boards of regents of CUS schools vote on their own appointment to the
board of regents?

Opinion: Nothing in the Bylaws prohibits the casting of such a vote.
Question 3:

When does a term of an appointed member begin and end? Does it begin at the moment of
the appointment or election and end exactly three years later? Does it begin with the first
meeting the member participates in and then end three years later? Or is there some other
definition to their term?

Opinion: College and university regents serve for a term of, nominally, three years, from the time of their
assumption of office and “until their successors assume office” (Bylaw 3.2.4). With regard to districtelected or board-appointed regents, Bylaw 3.2.4 (c) has not been understood to require such terms to
begin and end in the year of the Synod convention, or on any particular fixed date. The requirement that
board-appointed regents be appointed in the “nonconvention year” was removed by 2007 Res. 5-04 (2007
Proceedings, p. 140), leaving the boards of regents to determine when to appoint members for three-year
terms, provided there are no fewer than four and no more than eight in service at any time.
A schedule for assumption and relinquishment of office by board-appointed regents, as it is not regulated
in the Synod Bylaws, should be set out in the bylaws of the college or university or determined by board
policy, so long as it is consistent with the Synod Bylaws’ plain sense of “a three-year term.” Bylaw 3.2.4
(g) does prohibit any appointment to a board of regents in the interim between election of new members
by a Synod convention and their assuming office on the following September 1 (cf. CCM Ag. 2125,
August 24, 1998).
Question 4:

Does a member who is an elected member and then becomes an appointed member have
both counted as part of the three term limit or are they counted separately?

Opinion: Bylaw 3.10.5.2 [5] states, “College and university boards of regents members may be elected or
appointed to serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms and must hold membership in a
member congregation of the Synod.” The bylaw does not distinguish between election and appointment
for purposes of distinguishing separate term limits. A member, whether elected or appointed to whatever
CCM Minutes – September 26–27, 2014 – Page 34