Dr. Subhash Sahai
A member of the nine-person board that governs the three state universities has abruptly resigned.
Subhash Sahai, a doctor from Webster City, was appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Terry Branstad in 2013. His six-year term was scheduled to end next spring. The board’s president announced Sahai’s immediate departure from the board in a news release, but gave no reason for Sahai’s resignation.
Sahai came with his family from India to Iowa in 1967 when he was 18 years old. He went to the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State and earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa. He’s been a doctor in Webster City since 1976.
Sahai was absent from yesterday’s Board of Regents meeting.
In 2015, Sahai was the only member of the board of publicly raise concerns about the private meetings other board members had with Bruce Harreld before Harreld applied to be president of the University of Iowa. Sahai supported Harreld’s hiring, but argued the private meetings left the impression Harreld had been chosen before the formal hiring process started.
Governor Kim Reynolds will name a replacement to serve out the remaining 10 months of Sahai’s term on the Board of Regents.