State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, introduced a bill that would create a student position on the University of Texas System Board of Regents, a body which may soon be setting tuition rates.
Senate Bill 111 would amend the state education code to require the governor to select one of the University’s nine regents from a pool of student applicants currently enrolled in one of the institutions in the university system. The student regent would serve a three-year term and have the same voting privileges and rights as other board members.
Barrientos pushed similar legislation in the past, though none were successful.
Graham Keever, general counsel to Barrientos, said the senator was urged by UT student leaders last summer to reintroduce the bill. Having student representation on the board facilitates communication between board members and the student body while giving each group insight into what the other thinks, Keever said.
Katie King, president of student government at UT, said the recent push for tuition deregulation, which would give the regents power to set tuition rates without legislative approval, makes Barrientos’ bill especially relevant.
“In this environment when we are talking about tuition deregulation it is a huge priority to make sure we have student perspective on every level,” she said.
Texas A&M Regent R.H. “Steve” Stevens Jr. said Texas A&M student input is always welcome, and the A&M University System Board of Regents tries to get such input through hearings.
Universities are for students, Stevens said, and while student input is important, the idea of having a student regent is an issue that needs to be studied carefully.
“Very weighty issues come before the board, including financial matters that take a significant amount of experience to be able to focus on,” Stevens said.
King and other students met with the education committee in the Texas Senate and the higher education committee in the House of Representatives as well as others in the capitol to rally support for SB 111.
Responses to their lobbying efforts have been mostly positive, King said.
A&M Student Body President Zac Coventry said having a student on the A&M Board of Regents is not necessary because there is already an effective mechanism to get student views to regents. The Chancellor’s Student Advisory Board, composed of student leaders from all schools in the A&M System , gives A&M System Chancellor Howard Graves and regents student input.
“I’m on a first name basis with several of the regents. They really want to hear what students have to say,” Coventry said.
Guidelines for appointments to the Board of Regents of Texas public universities are set in the state education code. Chapter 85, subchapter B states that the Board of Regents for the A&M System be nine qualified voters from different parts of the state appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. For this reason, amendments to these guidelines must be made by state law and not by individual universities.
SB 111 has been referred to the subcommittee on higher education and is awaiting a hearing, when committee members will vote on it.