Regents, Nominee Face Hard Choice : Education: Ohio State’s E. Gordon Gee ponders chance to head UC. Some board members express reservations.

Ohio State University officials confirmed Monday that their president, E. Gordon Gee, has been chosen by a University of California Board of Regents committee as the nominee to be the next UC president.

Malcolm S. Baroway, a spokesman for Ohio State, said he spoke to Gee over the weekend and “he verified that, yes, he has the understanding that he is the first choice of the committee.”

Asked whether Gee is inclined to take the helm of the nine-campus, 162,000-student system, Baroway said, “Let’s just say I think that he has a hard decision to make.”

A reliable source said Gee has indicated to his confidantes that if UC’s full board approves his candidacy, he will accept the job. The 26 voting members of the board are scheduled to meet Friday in San Francisco to consider Gee’s appointment.

Gee, 51, a legal scholar who has headed Ohio State for five years, was in the Philippines and could not be reached Monday. Baroway confirmed that he is scheduled to return to the United States late Thursday.

Gee’s name emerged publicly after Regent Roy T. Brophy announced that the eight-member presidential selection committee had voted unanimously to recommend a single candidate. Brophy refused to name the nominee, but sources told The Times that it is Gee.

Some regents said they first heard about Gee in weekend press reports about the bespectacled administrator, who is known for wearing bow ties and suspenders. Regent Glenn Campbell said he had to look Gee up in “Who’s Who.”

“I’ve never heard of him before until I heard about him on the car radio,” said Campbell, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. Were it up to him, Campbell said, he would have “stolen a distinguished person” from a university better known for its academics.

“I would’ve preferred someone that would be accepted to Harvard or Stanford, but you can’t have everything in this life,” Campbell said, adding, “I understand [Gee] is big on affirmative action, and he’s a big supporter of gays. . . . I’m sure the governor will love that.”

Paul Kranhold, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson, said the governor will not comment until the full Board of Regents meets. Wilson is an ex-officio member of the regents’ presidential search committee.

Campbell said he was frustrated with the selection process, which entrusts a small committee to bring just one candidate to the board for approval. “I would prefer three,” he said.

In the past, other regents have taken issue with the process, which they say reduces their role to little more than a rubber-stamp. In March, Regent Tom Sayles told the board: “Under no circumstances will I vote for a candidate when I only have one choice. I’ll have no basis for comparison. I have no input in the process.”

On Monday, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, who is also a regent, said such sentiment remains strong among some regents. While he stopped short of criticizing the current selection committee or its nominee, he said the system is flawed.

“Clearly, there’s some discontent on the board,” Davis said. “This is the single most important decision that most regents will make during their tenure. It’s understandable that they would want to fully participate.”

Meanwhile, as word of Gee’s nomination spread, the talk among UC faculty appeared to focus on one concern: Gee’s modest scholarly credentials. From an academic standpoint, one person said, the choice of Gee was “a yawner.”

But Gee, who has also served as president of West Virginia University and the University of Colorado, appeared to have significant support on the board. In addition to the eight regents who chose him, regents Ward Connerly and William T. Bagley said they would support Gee.

“If he is the candidate, I think that we are blessed to have such an excellent [person] brought to us,” Connerly said.

Said Bagley: “Gee gets rave reviews.”