When Mike Kenyanya joined the student government at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, 10 years ago, he didn’t know it would one day lead to an appointment to the university’s board of regents. Back then, he was a freshman, not quite familiar with how the student government worked and had only joined the student organization out of curiosity.
“I wasn’t really sure what it was,” said Kenyanya, who recently concluded a 6-year term as a member of the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents.
After learning more about the student government in his freshman year, Kenyanya would go on to serve the student government in various positions during all four years, including as an elected student body president in his junior and senior years. During his last year at Duluth, a global consulting firm offered him a job in Chicago. Dr. Lisa Erwin, the Vice Chancellor for Student Life at the university who was his mentor, encouraged him to apply for a position as a regent.
“As I got to know Mike from his years of service to the [University of Minnesota Duluth] student government, I learned that he had many qualities that would make him an excellent candidate for the [University of Minnesota] Board of Regents,” Erwin said. “He’s exceptionally bright and able to understand an issue from multiple perspectives.”
The process includes submitting an application form and references to the Regent Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC). After a thorough revision of the application, the RCAC invites notable candidates for interviews. The RCAC then makes recommendations to the Joint Legislative Committee, which can then recommend one candidate for each board vacancy to the Joint Convention of the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House.
In December 2018, Kenyanya submitted his application. After that he enlisted his peers to help him campaign for a seat. He set up phone and e-mail banks and held pizza parties where volunteers made calls encouraging students to call their local representatives. Kenyanya also traveled from Duluth to the Twin Cities to meet with different legislators, a task he was able to accomplish with the help of his friends.
“I didn’t have a car, so my roommates were lending me their cars,” he said. “Those are my brothers, and I thank them for it.”
The board of regents serves as the governing body for the University of Minnesota. It is responsible for establishing the university’s strategic mission, approving major budgets and policies, overseeing the president, and ensuring the institution serves the public good of the state of Minnesota and the broader world. The student representative is a full member of the board. On May 9, 2019, the late Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives then, announced the news Kenyanya had been waiting for.
“Mike Kenyanya, having received a majority of the votes cast, has been elected as student at-large regent to the board for a term of six years,” said Hortman.
At the time of his election, Kenyanya was one of the only five Black regents in the University of Minnesota’s 174-year history and the second one that is of Kenyan descent.
“Student government is very different from institutional governance,” Kenyanya said. “It was one heck of a transition.”
As a regent, Kenyanya’s role still entailed advocating for the students in some of the initiatives he considered pertinent like access to tuition assistance, and mental health services. But he also had to serve other stakeholders of the university such as faculty. Kenyanya said during those six years, his immigrant background helped him to address key issues in a bipartisan manner.
“My immigrant background, I think about it as a superpower,” he said. “Growing up in two worlds helps with perspectives so much.”
Reflecting on Kenyanya’s time on the board, Erwin said that he was able to carry out his term with integrity and intention.
“I am extremely proud of his service to the Board, the University, and the citizens of the State of Minnesota,” Erwin said. “He listened carefully and asked questions from a lens of curiosity and stewardship. He positively influenced the work of the Board in ways that benefitted students and the institution.”
Former University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, student body president Jael Kerandi said she thought Kenyanya fulfilled his leadership role with student interests in mind. Kerandi was the campus’s first Black student body president and her term coincided with Kenyanya’s first year as a regent.
“Mike did a really hard job at a really hard time and really pushed his best,” Kerandi said. “The passion and caliber, Mike is no exception to that.”
While the university has expanded mental health services for students, the cost of attendance has increased significantly. In the past six years alone the cost of attendance for in-state students has increased by over 20%. In the past three decades, the out of pocket cost for students has increased while the contribution from the state budget to the university in terms of revenue has decreased by 15%. Nationwide the enrollment in higher education has also decreased over the past two decades.
Kenyanya said that this increase was due to multiple factors, one being that increase in access to services also leads to a rise in costs to cover the services, in what he describes as competing interests. There has also been a global rise in inflation. Kenyanya would like to see Minnesota’s various institutions of higher learning work together to identify key educational needs of the state. Looking to the future, he said he hoped to see the university continue to serve the state of Minnesota while maintaining its world class reputation.
“I hope the university continues to balance its aspiration to continue to be seen as a world class institution and continue to focus on Minnesota” he said.
Reflecting on his time as a regent, Kenyanya said he was honored to have held the position to serve Minnesota and a generation of future students.
“I’m so thankful for the experience,” he said. “I learned so much.”
On Aug. 12, Gov. Tim Walz announced the appointment of four new regents.
“The University of Minnesota Board of Regents is gaining four accomplished, knowledgeable, and dedicated leaders,” he said. “They will bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives, united by a deep commitment to the University’s mission. Their leadership will be critical as the Board addresses current challenges and shapes the University’s future.”
Kowsar Mohamed, a doctoral student in Natural Resources Science and Management at the University of Minnesota who also serves as the enterprise director of inclusion for the state’s Office of Inclusion, is the new student regent.
Author
About Cynthia Simba, Mshale Reporter
Cynthia is a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism. She has interned at Mshale and Voice of America and previously worked at the Minnesota Daily. She recently returned from Seoul, South Korea where she was an English educator.
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