New York State Board of Regents

The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is the governing body of the University of the State of New York.

The board was established by statute on May 1, 1784. The members were divided into five classes: 1) ex officio members including the Governor of New York, the Lieutenant Governor of New York, the Secretary of State of New York, the New York Attorney General, and the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, the Mayor of New York City, the Mayor of Albany, New York, 2) two people from each of the then twelve existing counties, 3) one representative of each religious denomination in the state, chosen by their congregation, 4) founders of any college or school in the state (and their heirs or successors), and 5) representatives from selected colleges.

The regents were spread across the state and getting a necessary quorum proved difficult given the size of the state and travel demands. On November 26, 1784, 33 additional members were appointed, twenty of them from New York City and affiliated with King's College (now known as Columbia University). This arrangement also proved ineffective, so on April 13, 1787, the Legislature legislated the existing regents out of office, and a new set of regents was appointed: the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor continued as ex officio members, and 19 regents were appointed for life. This legislation also shifted the regents' focus from Columbia to schools, colleges, and universities across the state. On April 8, 1842, the Secretary of State was added again as an ex officio member, and on March 30, 1854, the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Vacancies were filled by joint ballot of the state legislature.

The regents were made a constitutional body, no longer defined by statues, in 1894.

In 1904, the Board was reorganized again and the ex officio members were legislated out. The offices of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Secretary of the Board of Regents were abolished and the duties of both transferred to the Commissioner of Education, who "serves at the pleasure" of the Board of Regents. The number of regents was reduced to eleven, for each of the state's judicial districts, plus three "at large" members. The regents continued to be elected by joint ballot of the Legislature. At this time the term was fixed at eleven years, beginning on April 1. Eleven of the sitting 19 regents were chosen by the Legislature to continue in office, and were classified to serve for different term lengths, so that every year one seat came up for election, for a full term.

...
Wikipedia