ST. PAUL - Wisconsin students won't have to fork over more money to attend Minnesota public colleges and universities after the two states failed to reach a new tuition deal.
The University of Minnesota wanted to renegotiate what is known as a tuition reciprocity agreement, which allows Wisconsin students to attend Minnesota schools at the same price Minnesotans pay. But talks have failed, leaving the existing agreement in effect.
"We want students and families to understand that, under any scenario, the current reciprocity agreement will be in place for current and new students in fall 2007," said Susan Heegaard, director of Minnesota's Office of Higher Education.
One gains seat,
two ousted
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Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson landed a seat on the University of Minnesota's governing board and two sitting regents lost theirs Thursday night.
Three women also won six-year terms on the high-profile board. The night's picks brought four freshmen to the 12-member body, which sets tuition and school policies covering thousands of students and employees across campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris and the Twin Cities.
Ousted were Peter Bell, a regent since 2002, and Cynthia Lesher, who joined the board last year to fill a sudden vacancy.
Bell, the chairman of the Metropolitan Council, lost his seat in a largely party-line vote. He was replaced by Venora Mun-Ling Hung, who is working toward a law degree after previously earning her bachelor's degree at the university.
Lesher came in last in a three-way race that put Johnson and Wayzata school board chairwoman Linda Cohen to at-large seats.
Johnson, a veteran Democratic politician, got knocked out of the Senate in November by Willmar-area voters. Republicans opposed him.
The selection process represented a political clash between the DFL-dominated Legislature and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who forwarded four names for the four seats.
Interestingly, Bell and Hung were both on Pawlenty's slate. Hung had applied for a student regent slot, while Bell was angling to retain the seat reserved for a 5th Congressional District resident. Hung lives in Golden Valley, Minn., satisfying the residency requirement.
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Cohen, a licensed psychologist, ran with Pawlenty's endorsement as did Lesher.
With Hung out of the running for the student-designated seat, legislators elected Maureen Patrice-Ramirez Cisneros to the post. She is a graduate student on the Duluth campus.
