Effort to put student on Board

[srru86]

Targum
Fight for student voting seat on Rutgers Board of Governors takes definitive step forward
I get the attraction, though vastly over rated, of the students having a say in governance. Even when I was a student I thought the University had a bigger mission than keeping the student/customers happy.
Unfortunately the points the group is trying to use to make their case highlights their ignorance or misunderstanding of the situation, which does not bode well to their quest to be stewards of alma mater.

"The other state colleges have one so why not RU?" gambit is short sighted. Also misses the point that in reality it is merely a symbolic role at all those places. The other C/Us have a completely different history and the legislation that created them is completely different than Rutgers. The board structure at RU is totally different with a mix of gubernatorial and trustee appointments that have prevented us from going the way of UMDNJ and being a board full of political appointees with an agenda outside education.

This is a resolution, not a bill. So has all the force of law of making it NJ hot dog week or whatever.

But the real danger is this picks up speed the only way to legally change the board structure is to reopen the 1956 compact. And even if only theoretically for this feel good measure there are many vultures that would pounce on the opportunity to change our governance structure to give them more control of the University and it's about 75% of revenues that don't come from Trenton. Scary.

 

[BoroKnight]

A book written by a professor I greatly respect once commented on student demands back in the day, including having a greater say in how the school runs. Parenthetically, he felt obligated to point out that after decades in academia he could not agree.

Educators should run schools, and students and parents can decide which is run in a way they want. Students are clueless, ignorant and lacking in perspective. Not their fault. It's called youth.

 

[Upstream]

Students are clueless, ignorant and lacking in perspective. Not their fault. It's called youth.

It's not just youth ... it is really the fact that students are transient. Their stay on campus is about 4 years. They have no perspective of what happened before they got there, and potentially no interest in what happens after they leave.

 

[srru86]

Transient and youthfully ignorant. You two said it in three words.

 

[srru86]

NJ 101.5
Lawmakers nudge along idea of giving students more say at Rutgers

 

[Scarlet Pride]

They rightfully have a voice on the board but a vote is much different. Students rarely have the time, perspective, experience, or knowledge necessary for such a responsibility. It's not a criticism of them just reality. And that's speaking nothing of the reality of 1 student representing such a diverse and vast student body.