A bill introduced Saturday at ASMSU’s Academic Assembly summer meeting requests a voting student position be added to MSU’s Board of Trustees - a panel traditionally comprised of high-profile alumni.
However, the path to such a proposal becoming reality will be a rigorous one.
The initiative would require an amendment to the state’s Constitution - a long and difficult process.
Representatives of the undergraduate student government tabled the bill for discussion at future meetings, where member interest will be reassessed.
“It’s a really, really lofty issue with a lot of weight to it,” Academic Assembly Chairman Matt Clayson said. “It’s not something you can just introduce and say ‘Yes, it’s going to happen.’
“It’s something the younger assembly members must want to carry on year after year.”
There are already student representatives working with the eight-member Board of Trustees, but like every other university in the state, they don’t vote.
However, ASMSU’s bill states 60 percent of Big Ten schools have voting student members.
“There’s great student-administration interaction already,” Clayson said. “The whole goal of this is to create better means for the interaction.”
Trustee Donald Nugent said a voting student member could add a new perspective, but he believes students already receive adequate representation.
If a student were to be added to the pool, Nugent said they would also have to consider a faculty vote.
“The students do have their place at the board table,” Nugent said. “The input we do receive and seek out is put to use.”
While the state’s Constitution is built for change, Mark Grebner of Practical Political Consulting, 220 Albert Ave., said it would be very difficult for the students of ASMSU to make the alteration.
To amend the Constitution, two-thirds of the state House and Senate must agree to the amendment.
Another avenue? A statewide vote could be created from a petition with the signatures of at least 10 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election - in this case, 1998.
Grebner also said it would be difficult to guarantee a student would be placed in the position for the typical eight-year term.
“I don’t think you can get from here to there,” he said. “All the other Big Ten universities except for U of M have boards appointed by the governor. A petition drive would be insane, and the voters probably wouldn’t pass it.”
Matt Nolan, president of University of Michigan’s student government, said U-M would help MSU with the process, but would probably not put the issue at the top if its agenda.
U-M led a 1997 initiative by student governments around the state to create a student trustee position. While it gained campuswide support, efforts to put together a petition died amid funding problems.
“It just went absolutely nowhere,” Nolan said. “It’s a really uphill battle. It’s really hard to get a state rep to stick their neck out there and support it, but it’s hard for us to get kids to get a petition going.
“If it were a winning battle, it would be great, but it would be like us doing a bucket drive on campus to raise money.”
However, state Rep. Gretchen Whitmer said the idea shouldn’t be brushed aside.
The East Lansing Democrat, whose district includes MSU, said while Constitutional changes are difficult, they aren’t impossible.
“Fifteen years ago, people never thought there would be term limits, but that was changed,” said Whitmer, an MSU alumna. “Student participation in university government is important for the most effective university government.
“It’s a long, hard road to hoe, but I wouldn’t write anything off.”
Jamie Gumbrecht can be reached at gumbrec1@msu.edu.
