New student trustee pledges to champion student concerns

The majority of the students at IU's campuses, according to latest IU admissions statistics, are undergraduates from the state of Indiana.\nOriginally from Switzerland and a graduate student, Sacha Willsey, the newly appointed student representative to the IU Board of Trustees, is by these standards not the typical IU student. \nBut for the next two years, Willsey -- who is also the wife of Bloomington City Council member Jeff Willsey (D-4) -- will be called on to represent all IU students, statistically typical or not, to the University's nine-person governing body.\nIU Student Association president Jake Oakman, a senior, said he was a little surprised when he learned of Willsey's background.\n"When I first heard about it I had reservations given the circumstances," he said. "When you're reading that a 32-year old graduate student is the wife of a Democratic councilman, it kind of makes you look again and see if there is anything between the lines. But I met her and I like to give everyone a chance. I hope she'll do a good job."\nWhile being a graduate student puts her in the minority among all students on IU campuses, Willsey said the wealth of experience she has from being a non-traditional student, including being married, being a parent and spending time in the work force, puts her closer to many of the students at the regional campuses. It also gives her an advantage when dealing with the other board members, she said.\n"I can bring what I consider a unique perspective to the board," Willsey said. "...I have more experience, more life experience about bringing force to your ideas or your concerns."\nThe process of selecting a student trustee takes one year, said Robin Gress, secretary to the trustees. Indiana State Law requires that a search and screen committee made of students from all campuses and a representative of the governor's office, choose 10 finalists from all applicants and forward a list to the governor, who appoints the final candidate. \nA total of 28 candidates, including Willsey, applied for student trustee last year. At the time of application two were freshman, five were sophomores, three were juniors, eight were seniors and 10 were graduate students. Twenty-three of these students were from the Bloomington campus and five were students at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis. All the finalists sent on to Gov. Frank O'Bannon were candidates who would be graduate students at the time of appointment, Gress said.\nJean Farison, special assistant for boards and commissions in the governor's office, said the applications from the 10 finalists are then reviewed and interviewed. A recommendation is then made to the governor. Farison said the governor doesn't have to take the recommendation, but in the case of this year's selection, O'Bannon did -- appointing Willsey.\nAlthough graduate students are an overall minority among all IU students, former trustee Ray Richardson, who served for nine years ending this summer, said older students are often better able to speak out in the presence of the older members of the board, a quality which Richardson feels is most important for a student trustee.\n"Age and experience gives a student the courage to speak out," he said. "When you're really young, it takes a rare person to stand up to the older trustees. If a student trustee is not able to do that, the purpose of having a student trustee is defeated no matter how old they are."\nOakman said he thinks its important that Willsey makes an effort to speak with students on "all IU campuses "so she can personally dispel any problems individual students have." \n"It's hard in her situation to represent all the students, but I think she can work on that and I think she will," he said.\nWillsey, who was awarded an undergraduate degree in May, said her experience as an undergraduate on the Bloomington campus will help in completing her duties as trustee. Her connection to city issues through her husband, a city councilman, is also something she considers an advantage.\n"I'm very aware of what's going on in the city," she said. "I do think IU and the city already work a lot together and I think there can be more"