Student-regent appointment delayed

Darlene Marie "Daya" Escarez Mortel has a June 30 plane ticket to the Phillippines.

Despite this and a regents' meeting scheduled for July 16, the recent graduate will keep her title as student regent until her successor is selected.

"I feel privileged to serve the UW community after graduation," said Mortel. "But I want the new student regent to be appointed before I leave for the Philippines."

Appointed by Gov. Gary Locke to be student regent from June 25, 2003 to May 31, 2004, Mortel has already served three weeks beyond her appointed term.

Mortel said she was hoping to pass along information to the new regent before she leaves for a community-service project overseas.

According to Diane Prigge, special assistant for boards and commissions for the governor's office, the delayed announcement is partly due to Locke's busy schedule; he recently returned from Europe and is new in Mexico.

"[Locke] is working on [the appointment]," Prigge said. "I've asked him to make the decision as soon as possible."

According to Mortel, her own appointment last year was delayed until the end of July because the ASUW did not submit the applications of prospective student regents on time.

"This year we had all our 't's crossed and 'i's dotted," she said. "Everything that was supposed to be in was in."

According to Prigge, the governor received the necessary information in May.

The student regent is first appointed by the governor and then confirmed by the Washington state legislature to serve a one-year term. According to the UW regents' Web site, at the end of their term, student regents continue to serve until they resign, are officially reappointed, or their successor is appointed.

"I'm laid-back now, mellowing out because I just graduated," said Mortel, who recently returned from San Francisco. "For me there haven't been many things to do."

Mortel said that she participated in a conference phone call last Saturday with the other regents, but that there was no mention of the delay in the course of the conference. According to Prigge, Mortel will continue to communicate through these long-distance meetings as long as the UW has enough regents to continue meeting.

"It's not as much a hassle as it is anxiousness," said Mortel. "It's worse for the finalists because they need to make summer plans and move on."

Neither Mortel nor Prigge have spoken with the finalists about the delay.

"I haven't heard anything [from the governor's office], not yet," said Alex Bolton, one of the three finalists for next year's position. "It's all up in the air."

"We'll contact the finalists as soon as the governor knows anything," said Prigge.