Michigan's greatest jewels -- and greatest hope for the future -- are its universities, especially the "Big Three": The University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

They are all world-class research universities, and essential to our future, now more than ever.

Our state's economy is undergoing a wrenching but necessary transition from one based on brawn-based manufacturing to one centered in brain- based knowledge.  As a result, the bright students and high-tech spin-offs coming out of the labs at these universities are absolutely crucial if we are to have prosperity and progress in the years ahead.

But who really runs these places, you might ask? To be sure, it's their presidents - Mary Sue Coleman at the U of M, Lou Anna Simon at MSU and Irvin Dexter Reid at WSU. They, however, have to answer to a higher power -- their various governing boards - called regents at the U of M, trustees at MSU and governors at WSU.

What few voters realize is that these schools have a special status in Michigan's Constitution. Their governors are elected by a statewide vote of the people, something that doesn't happen at our other state schools.

These regents, trustees and governors serve eight-year terms. Their duties are clearly set out in Article VIII, Section 5 of the Michigan Constitution. That includes the power to hire -- and fire -- their university's presidents. They are also charged with setting policy and overseeing all spending at their respective institutions.

Plainly, these are hugely important jobs, given special Constitutional standing and freedom from control even from the (far too often) prying legislature.  (I should know; I was a trustee of the University of Michigan from 1987 to 1999.)

So do candidates for these jobs get on the ballot? They are nominated by the conventions of their political parties. And candidates for each school will be on the ballot Nov. 7.

Have the vast majority of the voters ever heard of any of them? Not likely. Do they know their qualifications? Nope. Does anybody outside a select few understand their positions on education issues?

I'm afraid you know the answer. It is sad but true that members of the governing boards of our most precious assets are nominated in obscurity and elected in wholesale ignorance.

That's one of the most bizarre and unfortunate aspects of the Michigan political system. Bizarre, because for candidates to get nominated they have to pass through the stringent litmus tests required by each party.  For the Democrats, it is acceptance by organized labor. Republicans have to be acceptable to Right to Life.

That's especially unfortunate because once nominees have gotten their respective seals of approval, they then run - utterly unknown -- in an election whose outcome is largely a crap shoot.

Here, by the way, is how those elections are often determined. If it's a Republican year at the top of the ticket, nearly all the Republican candidates for these jobs win. That's because most of the votes they get are from people who vote a straight ticket.  If it's a Democratic year, the reverse happens.

So no wonder it's getting tougher and tougher to recruit able people to run for these important offices! Who wants to have to truckle to the unions or the anti-abortion fanatics?  And who wants to spent lots of time and (sometimes) money running a campaign whose outcome is almost entirely out of the candidate's hands? This is for an unpaid job, by the way,

Fortunately, there are good people willing to go to this trouble. To find them, go to the web sites of your local newspaper and search for candidates for U of M Regent, MSU Trustee and WSU Governor.  You'll find their biographies.  Some of them have web sites, as well.

And when you're voting, be sure to look carefully at the bottom of your ballot for the candidates for the boards of our great universities.  You'll do their universities a great service ... and all the citizens of our state, as well.

Phil Power is a longtime observer of politics, economics and education issues in Michigan. He would be pleased to hear from readers at ppower@hcnnet.com. These opinions and others expressed in Phil Power's columns are individual opinions and do not in any way represent official policy positions of the Center For Michigan.