Gov. Chet Culver will appoint four new Iowans to the Board of Regents by March 15, but a state senator said last week that won’t be enough to heal what is ailing the board, which has been a lightning rod for criticism recently.

Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, said he’d like to see everyone on the nine-member board step down – including President Michael Gartner.

Zaun, while speaking on the Senate floor last week in Des Moines, said in light of the wasted “dollars, the cover-ups [and] the secrecy” surrounding the search for a new University of Iowa president, the entire board should resign.

“I think we need a completely new board – a fresh start,” Zaun said.

Regents Teresa Wahlert, Mary Ellen Becker and Amir Arbisser all have terms that expire this year, and Regent Tom Bedell resigned in December, saying he hoped Culver would appoint a replacement who could become the board president.

Gartner, however, has said he does not intend to relinquish the post before his current term ends in 2011, despite votes of no-confidence in the board from U of I faculty and student groups.

Zaun said that will only hurt Iowa’s universities. He is skeptical the U of I can attract a top-notch candidate with the current regents in place and said he believes the board has lost touch with the needs of students.

“What I’m encouraging [Culver] to do is not to get political insiders and big-time political contributors [to serve on the board,]” Zaun said. “Go out and find bright parents, grandmas and grandpas. Find people who are writing the checks to these institutions.”

Regent Robert Downer said he understands and shares many of Zaun’s concerns – especially regarding the $215,000 failed presidential search – but he doesn’t think “the remedy [Zaun] has proposed is the appropriate one.”

“I have never been one who believed in evaluating one’s record on one vote,” said Downer, who cast one of two dissenting votes when the board voted 6-2 to reject all four U of I presidential candidates and dissolve the search committee in November. “Senator Zaun was evaluating the record of all of us on one matter. I don’t think that gives a comprehensive record of the work the regents have done.”

The current board, all appointed by former Gov. Tom Vilsack, has six members with background at the U of I – including three of four outgoing Regents – one with University of Northern Iowa ties, but none with background at Iowa State. Zaun said the inequitable representation causes him concern and also said he would like to see regents that have all attended one of the regent institutions.

Downer agreed, decrying the board members’ lack of experience with Iowa State.

“I think definitely at a very minimum that one of the vacancies should be filled by an Iowa State graduate,” said Downer, who received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Iowa. “Each of us who has had a background as a student at one of the universities is able to supply a more complete picture of certain things related to that institution.”

ISU Faculty Senate President and professor of architecture Gregory Palermo, though, said he isn’t concerned about the lack of ISU representation on the board and that there are more important factors to be considered.

“What I would really like to see is that the regents have an understanding and commitment to higher education in the state of Iowa,” he said.