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Volume 27, Issue 13, November 04, 2004

Opinion

Trustee Talk

mugStephen Hay
Student Trustee

Many students at our school do not understand the role of the Metro State Board of Trustees. I used to hear that the Board is anti-student. I used to hear that the board does not care what the students think. I used to hear that the board is out to make this a University of Phoenix. None of this could be further from the truth.
When I decided last year to inform myself about the board and understand why it makes some of the decisions it does, I was pleasantly surprised. It wants Metro to remain a college worthy of national recognition. To do this, Metro must best serve us. To do that, our Trustees want to hear from us, the students.

They want to hear about how they, as a governing board, can have a positive influence on our education. Yes, I did say “positive.” It is my duty as the Student Trustee to convey this to you.

As an example of how our board works, I will use the Clean Energy Fee from last spring.

This fee pays for a portion of the energy used by the Auraria Campus that is from renewable sources, such as solar or wind energy.

Auraria Higher Education Center held a tri-institutional election to approve this fee.

Following the election, the Clean Energy Fee went to the governing boards of the schools for approval. Metro’s board approved the fee by a slim majority; it only passed by one vote.

Why?

There were a couple of reasons. Some trustees were concerned about raising student fees and others about the voter turnout. There was also concern about how the election was carried out.

Believe it or not, Metro’s student government elections had a higher voter turnout (barely over percent), than AHEC’s Clean Energy election, which was around 3 percent.
The board of Trustees wants to act in the interest of the students, if possible. Can they do that with so few students “speaking to them” by means of the election?

The Clean Energy Fee was approved by the Board, but it was noted that they want to hear from the students. The 1,000 students who voted were, unfortunately, only a small sample of our student body. We have the opportunity to be heard. We have a board that wants to hear from us.

We can make change.

I would like to further encourage that we, the students of Metro, exercise our right to be heard.

Contact your Student Trustee (mscd-student-trustee@mscd.edu), contact your Student Government (mscd-sga@mscd.edu), vote in student elections and help our board act in the best interest of us, because WE are Metro.