Gov Hogan, If You're Listening, Please Dial In to Md Regents' 10:00 am Conf Call Today on FB Player Heatstroke Death

The Maryland Board of Regents has scheduled a special meeting by phone today at 10:00 am to discuss the death of UMD football player Jordan McNair from heatstroke suffered at a workout on May 29.   Many think the meeting was called to discuss the future of football coach DJ Durkin and even College Park President Wallace Loh himself.

The Regents decided to close the meeting to the public.  However, by law, the Regents are required to invite to all their meetings 3 VIP members of the public:  Governor Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot, and Treasurer Nancy Kopp.  (See below)

Larry, please show up.  The Regents are dysfunctional in their supervision of intercollegiate athletics and major changes are needed to keep student athletes throughout the University System safe. 

The Regents have delegated (abdicated?) matters related to intercollegiate athletics to its opaque Working Group on Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA).  The ICA Working Group appears to function like one of the Regents' Standing Committees except that it has no charter in the Regents' Bylaws and, unlike the full Board and its standing committees, posts no agendas or minutes at the Regents' website. 

Once a year in September, the ICA Working Group provides a report to the Regents' Standing Committee on Education Policy and Student Life, but that report is mainly about monitoring and measuring academic achievement among student athletes.  The annual report does not appear to monitor or measure deaths or injuries of student athletes. 

Odd that the Regents are so incurious about a program that: (1) brought in $94 million in NCAA and other revenue last year; (2) poses the greatest of serious injury and death to students whose well being they are charged with; and (3) is most remote from the University System's primary mission of academic education and preparing its students to thrive in the rapidly changing 21st Century they will spend their adult years living in.  It's almost like certain members of the Regents prefer to run athletics themselves and the other Regents think its okay.

Larry, Pete, Nancy: Jordan McNair's death was a public one, as was the death of Marquese Meadow, a FB player who died of heatstroke at Morgan State U in 2014, and Derek Sheely, who died of head trauma sustained at football practice at Frostburg State U in 2011.  Gavin Class nearly died of heatstroke at football practice at Towson State U in 2013. 

The Regents give no indication that "they got this."  So please Larry, Pete, and Nancy, dial in today at 10:00 am and lead.


Md Code Education Article Section 12-103
 § 12-103. Officers; time and place of meetings

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Time, place, and notice of meetings

(b)(1) The Board [of Regents] shall determine the time and place of its meetings and may adopt rules for the conduct of its meetings.

(2) The Governor, the State Treasurer, and the State Comptroller shall be notified of all meetings of the Board and may sit with the Board at any meeting.