Associated Student Government is one step closer to increasing student input on long-term university planning after meeting with Board of Trustees members Tuesday afternoon.
Board of Trustees Student Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Harris said he would address the possibility of student representation on the board during his annual report to the board in April.
“If (ASG leaders) put together a proposal that looks at the pros and cons of the student representation issue and wish me to present it to the full board, I will certainly present it to the Board of Trustees,” Harris said. “The elected student representatives are asking me to do it and representing that is important.”
Since administrators announced their Lagoon construction plans, students have criticized the lack of importance placed on student opinion. Tuesday’s meeting was one of the three meetings between ASG leaders and the Student Affairs Committee during the year.
“This constitutes student representation on one of the Board of Trustees’ committees,” Harris said. “(These meetings) are extremely effective ways of getting student input.”
ASG President Jordan Heinz said he wants the meeting format to change so committee members can notify students of board business.
“The information exchanged with the committee is uni-directional,” said Heinz, an Education senior. “It’s only us telling them what’s going on on campus. But they don’t come to us. We want (an information exchange in) the other direction and that’s not happening.”
Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis said ASG can represent students’ interests by meeting with Student Affairs Committee members.
“Most of the board’s work gets done in committee,” Banis said. “That’s where the action is.”
Former ASG President Adam Humann said a student on the Board of Trustees might not effectively represent student opinion to the board. One problem is that the student would be bound by the same confidentiality agreement that constrains other board members.
“Saying you have a student representative is really just a title,” said Humann, Weinberg ’01. “This student is not going to take issues back to students and have a vote on it.”
Humann said he spoke with Harris and University President Henry Bienen last winter on increasing student input and hopes to see results this year.
“Standing alone, Phil Harris isn’t going to convince the Board of Trustees to put a student member there,” Humann said. “He’s not going to do ASG’s job for them.”
Although Harris said he would bring up the subject with trustees, he said the board ultimately will determine the merits of the request.
“You can’t focus on just one important issue; You have to look at the pros and cons,” Harris said. “Is this something that will result in a substantive change or is it something that is really a window dressing?”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, ASG Financial Vice President Carson Kuo discussed a proposed Student Activities Fee increase to $40 per quarter. The board raised the quarterly fee from $22 to $33 last April after a 1999 student opinion poll showed support for an increase to $40.
“If the students decide that the $7 increase is needed, and it sounds like there are significant reasons to me, that will be significant (to the Board of Trustees),” Harris said.
ASG senators will vote tonight on whether they support the fee increase, as well as a bill asking administrators to notify students after releasing their information to law enforcement officials.
