A member of the UW Athletic Board is resigning because he said the oversight committee has become a rubber stamp for the will of the UW Athletic Department.

Jeremi Suri, a history professor who was named one of America's top young innovators by the Smithsonian Institute, emerged as a voice of dissent on the board in recent years.

In a letter to Chancellor Biddy Martin requesting to resign from the board, Suri wrote that the board is a "facilitator for the interests of the Athletic Department's leaders."

"The Athletic Board has willfully neglected its oversight duties," he wrote. "In my three years of service, we have never had a serious discussion about the interests of the university, the students, or the community."

Walter Dickey, an associate dean in the UW Law School and chairman of the Athletic Board, said he "disagrees with everything in the letter."

"I believe that the relationships that exist between board members and senior staff in the Athletic Department are first rate," he said. "The implication is if one has an open and trusting relationship, one must somehow be rolling over and not fulfilling his duty."

Rather, Dickey said, the close relationships mean there is free flow of information which allows good decision-making.

Suri's resignation may be a sign of increasing tension among members of the board as to what role it should play.

"I think there's been a bit of an erosion of faculty oversight through the years," said professor Bruce Jones, who ended an eight-year stint on the board in July.

One instance of this, Jones said, involved the hiring of football coach Bret Bielema. Jones was chairman of the board at the time, but said Athletic Director Barry Alvarez did not tell him he was hiring Bielema until about an hour and a half before the choice was announced at a news conference.

The Athletic Board is tasked with actively participating in the search-and-screen process for head coaches and recommending personnel.

Jones and Suri don't fault Alvarez for his desire to be independent, but they say it is the board's job to serve as a check-and-balance on the department.

"It's up to the board to be just as strong and remind him of his parameters," Jones said.

Vince Sweeney, senior associate athletic director for external relations, said he thinks the board offers appropriate guidance and oversight into the Athletic Department's operations.

"I've been around long enough to see different boards," he said. "I think this board is consistent with the boards of the last two decades."

The board is currently conducting a self-review. A report on the "Role of the Athletic Board and How It Operates" suggests the board should no longer be actively involved in the oversight or supervision of the hiring and evaluation of coaches.

Suri said the direction for the board laid out in the report is "more of the same" and that it is essentially a "vanity board."

He was appointed as a faculty representative to the board by former Chancellor John Wiley in 2005. Suri said he is a sports fan who attends home football games with his children and was enthusiastic about his role at the start.

But he said he has become frustrated by the secrecy of the board. In the letter, Suri said key information is revealed in personal phone calls and policy decisions are pronounced without open consultation among members.

Suri said the board has been left out of negotiations with the Big Ten Network, athletic building plans, student discipline issues, and the hiring and review of coaches. Alvarez made the decision to renew Lisa Stone's contract as the women's basketball coach last year, for instance, without the board first reviewing and evaluating her performance, Suri said.

Dickey said the board discusses many of those issues through its committee system.

"There are 22 members on the board," he said. "That's very big. The day-to-day oversight work is done through committees which report to the full board."

The new chancellor, Martin, said she is concerned about the views Suri expressed in his letter.

"It is my understanding that the issues he raises are being reviewed in a timely manner by the relevant governance groups on campus," she wrote in an e-mail.