NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Board of Regents may not be properly constituted, but its decision to hire Deputy Gov. John Morgan as the higher education system’s new chancellor nonetheless is legal, according to state Attorney General Bob Cooper.
“Tennessee case law provides that in cases where a court declares that a public body such as a board or commission is improperly composed, the actions of that body prior to such a declaration are still valid under Tennessee law,” according to the legal opinion publicly issued Tuesday.
The opinion says the legal principles upon which members of public bodies are considered de facto officers “derive from Tennessee case law, rather than from the language of the Board of Regents statute.”
Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, who requested the attorney general’s opinion, have been critical of the board’s decision – made just before selecting Morgan – to change its requirement that all candidates for the top post have a doctorate degree. Morgan does not have a Ph.D.
Ketron said he felt “compelled to request that [opinion] just to make sure everything was legal based on the way that the board was structured. Being illegal, you would ask that question.”