But efforts in the Legislature, including a measure supported by Gov. John Engler, to alter the way university governing boards are selected have gone nowhere. To have a referendum, ASMSU would have to submit a petition with a number of signatures equal to at least 10 percent of voters in the last gubernatorial election.

In other words, they would need thousands of dollars and many volunteers to collect 302,711 signatures.

The efforts’ goal is twofold, the bill’s author said. Not only would it improve relations between students and administration, but by spurring this initiative, the relationships between students and ASMSU would improve as well.

In making its case, ASMSU cited other Big Ten universities, such as Penn State University and the University of Illinois, that have voting student trustees.

And ASMSU has an ally in Geoffrey Grivner, Penn State’s student trustee, who said students can be effective members of governing boards.

“Since I’ve (been a member) my influence has grown,” he said. “My ideas and opinions are always listened to.”

But the structure of the governing boards at MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University is different from Penn State and other universities. Here, trustees are chosen in a statewide election, but elsewhere they are appointed by the governor or state legislature.

This isn’t the first time a Michigan university has tried to achieve such a goal. In 1997, a U-M petition drive failed because of funding problems.

The problem with ASMSU’s initiative isn’t that it’s a bad idea. The problem is it’s simply too lofty of a goal. ASMSU is naive to think it can push such a massive change through the Legislature - ASMSU’s failure to repeal the sales tax on textbooks comes to mind.

Even if it could find a way, one student would not be able to represent our entire campus. Part of the reason ASMSU exists is to reflect the myriad of views on campus to the Board of Trustees and administration. This effort won’t make up for the student government’s failure to be this voice.

It’s nice to know there are students like Leslie who are concerned with the way our university is run and are looking for ways to make it better. But we should be looking to our undergraduate government to accomplish smaller things first. Voter turnout and public awareness are two items that would be great starting points. ASMSU’s time and resources would be better spent building up, rather than trying to fell the forest from the treetops downward.

A student trustee could be helpful, but ASMSU is over its head and trying to do too much at once. There are many other issues the student government’s attention would be better focused on.