Student regent should be installed

By Jack Schillaci
Daily Editorial Page Writer

The University Board of Regents guides the University's policies and administrative decisions. They set tuition, establish the annual budget and levy student fees along with countless other tasks.

But students have no official voice in the decisions that affect them so greatly. The student body does have a representative to the board - the Michigan Student Assembly president - but that position does not have any influence over the administrative decisions. Individual students can also address the regents but there have no input into the board's decisions.

Presently, such a student position is considered a conflict of interest under state law as it would enable students to grant themselves degrees. The only way to rectify the conflict is with an ammendment to the state's constitution.

As head of the MSA Student Regent Task Force, Andy Schor came close to the first step in getting an official student voice in the administration. He drafted a bill to be sponsored by state Rep. John Schwartz (R-Battle Creek), chair of the state House subcomittee on Higher Education. However, Schwartz changed his mind before it was to be introduced - negating months of the task force's work.

As a result, the task force refocused its efforts into getting an an ex-officio student regent. The officer would be able to make motions, enter into discussion and do everything other regents can except their most important power: The ability to vote. While an ex-officio position is an easier goal to achieve - it only requires the passage of a regents' resolution - it is not adequate to quell students' needs of representation.

An ex-officio officer would be a step in the right direction but is not the answer to students' problems. Only a student with the full-voting power afforded to other regents will allow campus concerns to be brought to the regents' table by their most important constituents: The student body.

09-03-97