The rising cost of tuition is one of the most hotly debated subjects on each of the UT System’s nine campuses. The governing body behind tuition increases and many of the strategic decisions made regarding the universities is the Board of Regents, an undeniably private and elite group of professionals appointed by the governor to six-year terms. The Board of Regents is comprised of nine members who, after being appointed, are confirmed by the state Senate. This tradition of appointments ensures a never-ending string of conservative decision-makers ultimately heading the UT System.
Naturally, the board is not comprised of working-class men and women seeking to build a life for themselves and support their families, like many of the nearly 50,000 students, 2,500 faculty and 14,000 staff members at UT. Instead, the board is made up of commercial bankers, hotel magnates and private wealth management firm managers, among others, who lead lives that are extremely detached from the everyday concerns of penny-pinching college students and their parents. These men and women serve as an elite voice in a less-than-democratic system, making choices without the input of those struggling to put themselves through school, and yet they have the immense responsibility of making crucial decisions concerning tuition costs and raises, the Permanent University Fund, endowments, university policies and managing university lands.
In 2006, Perry decided to assauge the student voice by instituting a student member on the board. Since then, a Perry-appointed student regent has served a one-year term on the board and acted as a representative voice for the System’s student population.
But the student regent is currently a non-voting member of the board, and thus even with the position’s presence, the system of governance still reeks of the “taxation without representation” rule that we have been taught to reject from an early age.
Recently, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, authored a Senate bill that would grant student regents the “same powers and duties, including voting privileges, as the other members of the board of regents on which the student regent serves.” If passed, this bill would make the Board of Regents a more democratic body. The acting student regent would finally possess an active and persuasive role on par with those of the regents. The student regent would not only give advice on behalf of his or her fellow students, but would also take part in the decision-making process.
Ideally, the Board of Regents would be composed of equal amounts faculty, students and whatever education-minded Texas bigwigs woo Perry for a nomination. But for now, we wholeheatedly support West’s proposal of the addition of a voting student regent to the board. A vote for this bill is a vote for a more fairly governed University that values the input of us all.
— Audrey Campbell for the editorial board
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