This week, student leaders nominated Speaker of the Undergraduate Senate Brett Atanasio to be the student trustee on the AU Board of Trustees. The Eagle applauds the appointment of this competent undergrad. But the fact that the position he fills is without full voting rights makes his nomination bittersweet.
An undergraduate trustee is more likely to be most familiar with student needs, as he or she lives and eats on campus daily. Indeed, many of the recent, more influential movements for University development and change have come from undergraduates. This year alone, both “A New AU” and “Occupy AU” have developed from primarily undergraduate membership and leadership. And the Undergraduate Student Government has incontestably been the most visible student group on campus dedicated to actively advocating for the student body.
Atanasio is an experienced SG officer, currently serving as speaker of the Undergraduate Senate. Regardless of one’s personal feelings on the SG, few other positions need to be as in tune with University affairs, the student body and the plethora of issues affecting it. Any student trustee should match his or her passion for student advocacy with an understanding of the students themselves. And Atanasio’s previous SG terms seem to indicate both.
Past service in the SG is a strength; we don’t contest that. However, we are concerned that Atanasio’s position in the Undergraduate Senate will present a conflict of interest should he serve as trustee simultaneously. The Senate writes, debates and passes resolutions that are forwarded directly to the trustees. An individual holding both the speakership and trusteeship would have two layers of input on the same specific resolution and could, as a trustee, assist rejecting legislation that had been fairly passed over his objections in the Senate. While we think it is beneficial for the student trustee to learn from and perhaps attend Senate meetings, overseeing the Senate and being a trustee pose potential conflicts.
To our knowledge, the SG has no official procedure, rules or regulations regarding one of its own members serving as the student trustee concurrently. Thus, Atanasio would not be violating any protocol should he continue to serve out the remainder of his term as speaker. Nevertheless, we feel the apparent conflict of interest is rather clear and hope the SG looks into establishing a proper code so that similar situations may be avoided in the future. Only then can the student body’s best interests be represented on the Board of Trustees.
All these specifics with Atanasio’s nomination aside, some may wonder what difference any student trustee can make on the Board. Indeed, the reality may damper some optimism. The student is only one of 31 on the Board, and the position comes with no voting rights. No matter how passionate our representative is, it’s hard to point to direct influence without being on the roll call.
AU has always been a progressive institution. In the past, the Board has directly furthered this tradition, although it was pushed along by crisis. Following the Ladner scandal, AU became one of the few universities with a student trustee. Not Yale, not Harvard and not even Georgetown have such a position. Current progress aside, we encourage the Board to continue in this forward-thinking fashion and consider granting the student trustee full voting rights.
To some, the move may seem radical, but frankly, there are too many important issues before the Board of Trustees to eschew a direct student voice in the process. And other schools have instituted the policy with positive results. Both Cornell University and the University of New England have not only one, but two voting student trustees.
We have no specific crisis that prompted us to push for a voting trustee, no failure of leadership to rile up the masses. We only have the principle of fair student representation in University affairs on our minds. And this is a principle that shouldn’t need a scandal to be fulfilled. The Eagle encourages the Board to take the initiative and follow the progressive schools it seeks to emulate. Let the student trustee vote.? E
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