Sec. 10a-72. (Formerly Sec. 10-38c). Duties of board of trustees. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 10a-72. (Formerly Sec. 10-38c). Duties of board of trustees. (a) Subject to state-wide policy and guidelines established by the Board of Governors of Higher Education, said board of trustees shall administer the regional community-technical colleges and plan for the expansion and development of the institutions within its jurisdiction and submit such plans to the Board of Governors of Higher Education for review and recommendations. The Commissioner of Public Works on request of the board of trustees shall, in accordance with section 4b-30, negotiate and execute leases on such physical facilities as the board of trustees may deem necessary for proper operation of such institutions, and said board of trustees may expend capital funds therefor, if such leasing is required during the planning and construction phases of institutions within its jurisdiction for which such capital funds were authorized. The board of trustees may appoint and remove the chief executive officer of each institution within its jurisdiction, and with respect to its own operation the board may appoint and remove a chancellor and an executive staff. The board of trustees may determine the size of the executive staff and the duties, terms and conditions of employment of a chancellor and staff, subject to personnel guidelines established by the Board of Governors of Higher Education in consultation with said board of trustees, provided said board of trustees may not appoint or reappoint members of the executive staff for terms longer than one year. The board of trustees may employ the faculty and other personnel needed to operate and maintain the institutions within its jurisdiction. Within the limitation of appropriations, the board of trustees shall fix the compensation of such personnel, establish terms and conditions of employment and prescribe their duties and qualifications. Said board of trustees shall determine who constitutes its professional staff and establish compensation and classification schedules for its professional staff. Said board shall annually submit to the Commissioner of Administrative Services a list of the positions which it has included within the professional staff. The board shall establish a division of technical and technological education. The board of trustees shall confer such certificates and degrees as are appropriate to the curricula of community-technical colleges subject to the approval of the Board of Governors of Higher Education. The board of trustees shall with the advice of, and subject to the approval of, the Board of Governors of Higher Education, prepare plans for the development of a regional community-technical college and submit the same to the Commissioner of Public Works and request said commissioner to select the site for such college. Within the limits of the bonding authority therefor, the commissioner, subject to the provisions of section 4b-23, may acquire such site and construct such buildings as are consistent with the plan of development approved by the Board of Governors of Higher Education.

      (b) Subject to state-wide policy and guidelines established by the Board of Governors of Higher Education, the board of trustees shall:

      (1) Make rules for the governance of the regional community-technical colleges, determine the general policies of said colleges, including those concerning the admission of students, and direct the expenditure of said colleges' funds within the amounts available;

      (2) Develop mission statements for the regional community-technical colleges: The mission statement for the regional community-technical colleges shall include, but need not be limited to the following elements: (A) The educational needs of and constituencies served by said colleges; (B) the degrees offered by said colleges, and (C) the role and scope of each institution within the community-technical college system, which shall include each institution's particular strengths and specialties. The board of trustees shall submit the mission statement to the Board of Governors of Higher Education for review and approval in accordance with the provisions of section 10a-6;

      (3) Establish policies for the regional community-technical colleges;

      (4) Establish policies which protect academic freedom and the content of courses and degree programs;

      (5) Submit to the Board of Governors of Higher Education, for approval, recommendations for the establishment of new academic programs;

      (6) Make recommendations to the Board of Governors of Higher Education, when appropriate, regarding institutional mergers or closures;

      (7) Coordinate the programs and services of the institutions under its jurisdiction;

      (8) Promote fund-raising by the institutions under its jurisdiction in order to assist such institutions, provided the board shall not directly engage in fund-raising except for purposes of providing funding for (A) scholarships or other direct student financial aid and (B) programs, services or activities at one or more of the institutions within its jurisdiction and report to the Commissioner of Higher Education and the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education by January 1, 1994, and biennially thereafter, on all such fund-raising; and

      (9) Charge the direct costs for a building project under its jurisdiction to the bond fund account for such project; provided, (A) such costs are charged in accordance with a procedure approved by the Treasurer and (B) nothing in this subdivision shall permit the charging of working capital costs, as defined in the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time to time amended, or costs originally paid from sources other than the bond fund account.

      (c) The board of trustees shall: (1) Review and approve institutional budget requests and prepare and submit to the Board of Governors of Higher Education, in accordance with the provisions of section 10a-8, the budget requests; and (2) propose facility planning and capital expenditure budget priorities for the institutions and divisions under its jurisdiction. The board may request authority from the Treasurer to issue payment for claims against said colleges, other than a payment for payroll, debt service payable on state bonds to bondholders, paying agents, or trustees, or any payment the source of which includes the proceeds of a state bond issue.

      (February, 1965, P.A. 330, S. 22; 1967, P.A. 751, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 530, S. 8; 592, S. 1; P.A. 73-214, S. 2; P.A. 75-425, S. 24, 57; P.A. 77-573, S. 24, 30; 77-614, S. 67, 73, 610; P.A. 78-331, S. 44, 58; P.A. 82-218, S. 8, 46; P.A. 83-576, S. 2, 5; P.A. 84-87, S. 3, 7; 84-241, S. 2, 5; P.A. 87-496, S. 51, 110; P.A. 89-260, S. 14, 41; P.A. 90-260, S. 1, 6; P.A. 91-174, S. 6, 16; 91-230, S. 12, 17; 91-256, S. 14, 69; P.A. 92-126, S. 2, 48; P.A. 93-201, S. 11, 24; 93-293, S. 6, 11; P.A. 94-180, S. 11, 17; P.A. 96-190, S. 7, 8.)

      History: 1967 act expanded board's powers to include planning for expansion and development of community colleges and leasing of facilities subject to commission for higher education approval, to include appointment of executive secretary and executive staff and hiring of faculty, to include conferring of certificates and degrees and to include site selection and building construction for new colleges; 1969 acts deleted five-year limit on leases, allowed expenditure of capital funds for leases during planning and construction of facilities and included provisions concerning professional staff of board; P.A. 73-214 made commissioner of public works responsible for executing leases rather than the board itself; P.A. 75-425 made public works commissioner responsible for site acquisition and building construction rather than the board itself; P.A. 77-573 substituted board of higher education for commission for higher education; P.A. 77-614 substituted commissioner of administrative services for personnel policy board and public works commissioner; P.A. 78-331 specified board of trustees to avoid confusion which might arise since section also contains references to the board of higher education; P.A. 82-218 reorganized higher education system, replacing board of higher education with board of governors and adding provisions re duties of boards of trustees under state-wide policy and guidelines and re budget requests, effective March 1, 1983; Sec. 10-38c transferred to Sec. 10a-72 in 1983; P.A. 83-576 added provision prohibiting denial of access to armed forces representatives; P.A. 84-87 repealed language in Subsec. (a) prohibiting board from denying military recruiters the opportunity to recruit on campus; P.A. 84-241 added "of higher education" to board of governors' title; P.A. 87-496 replaced administrative services commissioner with public works commissioner; P.A. 89-260 in Subsec. (a) provided that the board of trustees of the community-technical colleges administer the regional technical colleges, appoint and remove assistant secretaries for regional community and regional technical colleges who shall serve at the pleasure of the board and not appoint or reappoint members of the executive staff for terms longer than one year, provided that the executive secretary serve at the pleasure of the board, added new Subsec. (b) designation and in the Subsec. provided for the development of a mission statement and a strategic plan for the regional technical colleges, relettered Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c), in Subsec. (c) provided that the board of trustees submit budget requests for the division of regional community colleges and the division of regional technical colleges to the board of governors of higher education and made technical changes; P.A. 90-260 added Subsec. (b)(9) re review and approval of actions of higher education administrative councils; P.A. 91-174 added Subsec. (b)(10) re fund-raising; P.A. 91-230 in Subsec. (a) removed the requirement for the board of governors to approve expansion and development plans and substituted provision for the board to review and make recommendations on the plans; P.A. 91-256 in Subsec. (c) added provision for the requesting of authority to issue payment for claims against the colleges; P.A. 92-126 changed references to community colleges and technical colleges to community-technical colleges, removed positions of assistant secretary for regional community colleges and assistant secretary for regional technical colleges, added the division of technical and technological education, removed language concerning the mission statement of technical colleges and made the mission statement of community colleges apply to community-technical colleges, removed Subdiv. concerning requirement for a strategic plan for the technical colleges and eliminated the divisions of regional community colleges and regional technical colleges; P.A. 93-201 amended Subsec. (b)(9) to require report and added Subdiv. (10) re charging the bond fund account for direct costs of a building project, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-293 deleted Subsec. (b)(8) relating to a repealed section and renumbered Subdiv. (9), effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-180 amended Subsec. (b)(8) to add the prohibition against direct fund-raising by the board except for the purposes described in Subparas. (A) and (B), effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 96-190 changed the title of the executive secretary to chancellor, effective July 1, 1996.