By The Denton Record Chronicle
We are doing the happy dance here at the Denton Record-Chronicle. Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced that he has appointed two Denton women to the Texas Woman’s University board of regents.
The new regents are Bernadette Coleman, occupational therapist for the Denton County Special Education Cooperative, and Jill Jester, a Denton attorney who is active in civic affairs.
The Record-Chronicle has been editorializing for three years to get the governor to appoint Denton residents to TWU and University of North Texas boards of regents.
The town-and-gown relationship between Denton and the universities is critical, and we found it ludicrous and nonsensical that no one from Denton served on either board.
Now, through these two women, the city of Denton will have a voice in the room when TWU regents meet to make policy. It never made sense to us that gubernatorial appointees from every other part of the state were part of TWU’s decision-making process while Denton was shut out.
Now, the next target is University of North Texas. As a matter of principle, UNT administration should actively recruit Denton residents to serve on the board of regents. How does it make sense, for example, that two of nine UNT regents live in San Antonio and none live in Denton?
Congratulations to Coleman and Jester on their appointments. Now is the time to ratchet up the pressure on Abbott to put at least one Denton voice on the UNT board.
