It turns out that Temporary Regent Tuckerman Babcock wasn’t really interested in serving on the University of Alaska Board of Regents at all.

Babcock quit the volunteer post Wednesday, one of the most important in Alaska higher education, without attending a single meeting of the regents.

He did attend an orientation program, but that’s it.

“I simply find myself unable to devote the full time and attention to the board that you, my fellow regents and the university certainly deserve,” he said in his resignation letter to Gov, Mike Dunleavy Wednesday.

With Babcock’s lack of interest and knowledge about the university, he should never have been appointed by Dunleavy two months ago. Maybe Babcock should have asked about the work required to be a regent. Maybe Dunleavy should have asked Babcock if he had any desire to do the work.

Dunleavy didn’t get into the desire to do the job when he landed on Babcock, who was chosen to punish legislators for rejecting Bethany Marcum May 9 on a 31-29 vote.

Choosing Babcock was a textbook case of putting petty politics above all else, an insult to Alaskans who care about the university and its potential.

Babcock’s term would have continued until next January, after which Dunleavy would have probably reappointed him, but the Legislature was likely to reject the appointment for some of the same reasons it rejected Marcum, plus a lot of others.

Marcum, a former Dunleavy employee, was a cheerleader for the 2019 Dunleavy attack on the university.

Babcock, a former Dunleavy employee, was an architect of the 2019 Dunleavy attack on the university.

The other reasons why legislators would probably have rejected Babcock include his strident partisanship, the Dunleavy/Babcock loyalty pledge fiasco that has cost the state well over $1 million in settlements and attorney fees, the failure by Dunleavy to engage in a real regent search process and Babcock’s minimal knowledge of the university. Add to this his lack of interest.

Dunleavy violated state law by failing to appoint a replacement for Marcum, who was rejected by the Legislature, within the three-day period required by state law. Dunleavy had plenty of time to get Babcock’s name before the Legislature, as the governor warned legislators that if they didn’t like Marcum, then he would see how they liked Babcock as a regent.

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