Student Senate unveiled a new format for the Student Trustee selection committee last night.
The new make up, explained by Vice President Sally Neidhard, comes after a closed discussion held by the Senate Monday night in which it was determined a new format for the committee was necessary. As a change in rules from Senate, the decision will have to be approved by the Board Of Trustees.
The make up in the past has been not as fantastic as it could be
Neidhard said, we want to make it the best selection committee possible.
The format calls for a 14-member committee to pick the student trustees headed by a chair, who would be the current vice president of the senate. This chair would then appoint the other thirteen members of the committee. Seven members would hold permanent positions in the student government, including the two current student trustees, the presidents of both Student Senate and Graduate Student Senate, and one voting member each from both senates, selected by the chair.
Six more positions could be held by students who are not a member of student government, as selected by the chair, Neidhard said. She said the application process for these students had not been fully discussed yet, only that applicants would need to be in good academic and judicial standing at the university.
Neidhard said former trustees would be favored for the position and that she hoped to maintain a two-to-one student to graduate student ratio with the six.
The final member of the committee would be an academic advisor who would not vote. The chair of the committee would refrain from voting unless there was a tie with the remaining twelve members.
This change would expand the committee by seven; the current makeup also includes Neidhard as chair, along with President Michael Adeyanju, current student trustees Chauncey Jackson and Tracy Kelly, and two at-large senators; Parker Fernandez and Michaela Hahn-Lawson. However it only includes one seat for a student from a student organization, which is currently Pete Wickman, president of Graduate Student Senate.
The voting members would be students because it was determined that faculty already had representation on the Board, Neidhard said. The only exception to this would be former trustees who had recently graduated.
Former trustees have special insight as to what the full cycle of the job entails said Stephen Oeschle, vice president for Committees and Legislative Affairs. He said these people had experience that even current trustees would have, as the selection process would take place during the academic year, before current trustees fulfill the entire years' duties.
Senators expressed approval for the idea, which will be completed and sent to the Board Of Trustees for review at its June meeting. If approved, the change would be implemented in the 2009-2010 school year.
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Tristan Navera
