University of Michigan Board of Regents

The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan is the legal corporation that controls the University of Michigan, comprising the campuses at Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn. The Board of Regents was created by the Organic Act of March 18, 1837 that established the modern University of Michigan. The terms of the Regents and their method of selection have undergone several changes since 1837, but the Board has served as a continuous body since then.

Although the Board of Regents was formed as a new legal entity in 1837, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in 1856 that it was legally continuous with the Board of Trustees of the University of Michigan that was formed in 1821, and with the Catholepistemiad, or University, of Michigania that was formed in 1817. That act makes the University of Michigan the oldest university in the Big Ten. The present-day University of Michigan recognizes 1817 as the year of its founding.

Michigan is one of four states with public university governing boards elected directly by the people (along with Colorado, Nebraska, and Nevada). The Board of Regents is one of three elected university governing boards in the state (the others being the Michigan State University Board of Trustees and the Wayne State University Board of Governors).

The current Board of Regents consists of eight Regents, two of whom are elected on a partisan statewide ballot every two years to an eight-year term, plus the President of the University of Michigan as an ex officio member. The Regents (excepting the President) serve without compensation, and meet once a month in public session. As of 2015, the Board consists of six Democrats and three Republicans:

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