By Yvonne Lim
Daily Texan Staff
April 1, 2003

James Huffines began his six-year term Monday as one of the newest members on the UT System Board of Regents, which determines policy for all 15 institutions within the UT System.

Huffines currently serves as president of Plains National Bank Financial in Austin, the second largest privately held bank in Texas. He also serves as executive vice president of Plains Capital Corporation, the parent company of PNB.

Since graduating from the University in 1973 with a degree in finance, Huffines has maintained ties to his alma mater through his work on several boards, most recently with the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

As a regent, Huffines said he will be committed to maintaining a standard of excellence for the System in the face of decreased funding from the state. He stressed the need for creative solutions, such as partnerships with businesses and possibly sharing resources with other schools.

"[The UT System] is absolutely the most valuable asset to our state," Huffines said. "We need to explore every avenue in the private sector to increase our funding and potential economic development partnerships."

For example, in exchange for financial assistance, components in the System could train certain types of engineers that businesses would need in the future.

"I would have some resistance to the University being privatized; however, it is a fact that we have to face that our funding is declining," Huffines said. "Obviously higher education belongs to the people of the state...but we must never forget that we are training the skilled workers for the business community."

Huffines supports tuition deregulation as a means to maintain resources needed for the System to remain competitive. While he is sensitive to student concerns, Huffines said that tuition deregulation may be necessary to maintain the highest quality of education with less state funds.

"The responsibility to allocate resources are very, very competitive," Huffines said. "If there is some kind of tuition flexibility or deregulation, the tuition would actually decrease on certain campuses."

The Legislature is also considering adding a voting student regent to the board. Huffines said the current student advisory council, composed of three students from each institution, provides better representation than a student regent from a single institution would. The level of experience would require seasoned financial knowledge and a deep understanding of the scale of the System.

"I understand the concerns of students because when I was in college 30 years ago, we also were pushing this very same issue," Huffines said. "I also realized we didn't have the broad experience and depth of business to understand all the ramifications and issues affecting this."

For Huffines, increasing diversity in the System will be an important issue, though a challenging one with reduced funding. He said the top 10 percent rule appears to work.

"I personally have zero tolerance for racial insensitivity or religious discrimination, and I would hope the [UT] administration would make that clear not only to students, student organizations, but to all employees," Huffines said.

Huffines described his community service work as a "passion" and said that he has always tried to allocate 20 percent to 25 percent of his time to public service.

"I have a real love and passion for the University of Texas, and I consider this one of the largest honors that I could ever receive," Huffines said. "For the opportunity to serve on this board, I'm very humbled and somewhat overwhelmed at the work that lies ahead."