A plan to more accurately reflect Ohio University within the Student Trustee Selection Committee might also lessen students' influence, according to a Student Senate commissioner.
Student Senate Vice President Amanda Roder and Tracy Kelly, current student trustee, proposed adding representatives from five groups on campus ' Graduate Student Senate, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Administrative, Classified and Faculty Senates ' as well as three students to ensure diversity.
Roder and Kelly said they believed the additional positions would better embody the group of people a student trustee represents to the Board of Trustees.
They know the university community. They know how it operates
Roder said. And then they also might bring a different perspective to the board or to the committee that students may not think of.
Chris Diehl, academic affairs commissioner, said he was very uncomfortable with having three non-students giving input during the selection.
The student trustee serves as a student perspective he said. I think [faculty staff
and administrators] are too far removed from the student experience to know what our perspective is and to provide input on who would best represent that perspective to the board.
Lydia Gerthoffer, current student trustee, agreed with Roder.
I don't think it hurts to have extra people there
she said. This is bigger than just undergraduate students.
Roder said she believed the current committee violates the Ohio Revised Code and the Board of Trustees rules from 1988. Diehl said the senate hasn't been following the selection procedure since at least 2000, possibly since 1995.
As far as I'm concerned
that's a moot point
he said. As far as I know
the board has never complained about anything we've done in terms of a selection process.
The present committee consists of seven voting student members and the vice president of Student Affairs, who does not vote.
The proposed 13-member committee would consist of two new sections: a Constituent Component and a Diversity Component. The first section includes the representatives from the five constituent groups and the latter includes three students from campus to help promote diversity, Kelly said.
I thought it was a value worth protecting and I just wanted to ensure that the committee would have that component from now on
she explained.
Diehl said he believed the senate was diversified enough with the multiple commissioners and that it could provide adequate variety to the committee.
Roder suggested another meeting later this week to discuss the issue further. The senate might propose a resolution regarding the committee within the next two or three weeks, she said.
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