Official Handbook Source Text
Handbook page 176
Source: LCMS Handbook 2023, page 176.
This page reproduces text from the 2023 LCMS Handbook for study and navigation. Readers should verify procedural, legal, parliamentary, or governance questions against the official LCMS Handbook and appropriate LCMS authorities.
3.10.6.2.2 Persons elected or appointed to a board of regents shall undergo training
for such service.
(a) The Concordia University System and Synod Board of Directors shall provide for training of elected and appointed regents concerning their responsibilities under the Synod Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions, to advance the Synod’s confession and mission objectives and to advance their respective institutions in service of the church through the Concordia University System visitation program.
(b) The chair of each board of regents shall, subject to guidelines prepared by the Concordia University System Institution Advisory Council after input from Concordia University System, provide training of elected and appointed regents in the task of governance and in their business and legal duties as regents.
(c) The training under (a) and (b) above shall be provided within one year after each Synod convention and at least annually between Synod conventions.
(d) Failure to complete the initial training within the first year after the first Synod convention after a regent is elected or appointed renders the regent ineligible to continue in office. Upon such failure, the respective board of regents shall declare the position vacant.
(e) Training programs, initial and continuing, may allow for electronic or remote participation.
(f) Concordia University System, in collaboration with its Institution Advisory Council and the Synod Board of Directors, shall prepare and make available a summary of the demands and expectations of service as a college or university regent, including their responsibilities under the Synod Constitution, Bylaws, and resolutions. This summary shall be reviewed and confirmed by nominees as a condition to being eligible to serve if elected or appointed.
(g) The cost of the development of the regent training by CUS and Synod Board of Directors shall be funded by the CUS; the cost of regent participation in the training shall be funded per capita by the institutions.
3.10.6.2.3 Vacancies that occur on a board of regents shall be filled in the following
manner:
(a) If the vacancy occurs in a position that was previously filled by the board of regents, the board of regents shall be the appointing body.
(b) If the vacancy occurs in a position that was previously filled at a district convention, the district board of directors shall be the appointing body.
(c) If the vacancy occurs in a position that had been filled by a national convention of the Synod, the Board of Directors of Concordia University System shall be the appointing body and shall follow the nomination procedure provided for filling vacancies in elected positions on boards and commissions of the Synod as outlined in Bylaw
3.2.5.
3.10.6.3 Recognizing its fiduciary duty as a board, as well as the requirements of
accrediting bodies that an institution’s governing board be clearly defined
