Student trustee election process proves flawed

Every two years, the state Governor gets to select from 10 finalists a student trustee who will represent the students of all Indiana University campuses throughout the state. Last Monday, Gov. Frank O'Bannon nominated 32-year-old graduate student Sasha Wilsey from here at the Bloomington campus as the student trustee. That's right, a 32-year-old graduate student.\nFirst, this is not an attack on Wilsey. She could turn out to be the best student trustee that has been here at IU in years. This is more directed at the process that people go through in order to select the student trustee. This is because of the 10 finalists that Wilsey was selected from, every single one was a graduate student.\n At the Bloomington campus alone, registration for the fall semester breaks down like this: 37,076 total students, 28,292 undergraduate students, 2,799 students enrolled in graduate programs within different schools and 3,480 students enrolled in the graduate school, along with numerous students enrolled in non-degree programs. So, based on these numbers, it is plain to see that the majority of students here on the Bloomington campus are undergraduate students. Therefore, one would think that if the committee really wanted to select a student trustee who is reflective of the student body, an undergrad would be a better choice.\nIn the defense of the committee an undergrad student can only be selected for the position if they apply for it, so perhaps there were not any undergrad applicants. Yet, on campuses so diverse with beliefs as IU, one has to believe that there were undergrad applicants. And some of them had to be qualified enough for the position to at least become a finalist for it. \nTwo years from now, no matter what happens under new student trustee Wilsey's tenure, we can only hope that some changes are made in the selection process for the new trustee. The committee needs to take into account that if the student trustee is a true reflection of the student body, then that person should in all likelihood be an undergraduate student, and not a 32-year-old mother of two, because the needs and wants of a typical undergraduate student are going to be different than those of someone who is getting a second degree and also dealing with the joys of parenthood.\nStaff vote: 9 - 0 - 1\nAgree Abstain Disagree