The search for a new university president has always been open and democratic. I believed that, like the other Student Government Association presidents before me, I would have the opportunity to meet each of the candidates and ask them questions specific to student life at Ball State. Things have changed, and I no longer have this luxury. In fact, only one student does. Sarah Atkinson is the sole student representative on the search committee. I have talked to Sarah numerous times and have passed on information that was collected from students on this campus. I understood that the process was created for a reason and I accepted the fact that it was too late to change the procedures established by the Board.
I accepted it ...until yesterday.
Yesterday, Tom DeWeese, President of the Board of Trustees, and Frank Bracken, Chair of the Presidential Search Committee, sent an e-mail to the Ball State community explaining the search process and informing us that they have added another faculty member to the search committee. They stated, "We take faculty comments about the process seriously and in response have appointed former University Senate chair John Emert to serve as an additional faculty representative." Did I miss something? Does the Board only answer to the faculty members of this campus? Apparently the students have once again been overlooked.
Students have always been underrepresented when it comes to governance-related issues. We have been laughed at on the floor of University Senate and have been excluded from committees that we definitely should have participated in (For example, the athletics task force, which voted to cut six sports teams). Our concerns are ignored and things students want to accomplish get shot down without a blink of the administrative eye. Faculty and administrators keep telling us that we are apathetic and that we don't care. The issue isn't about caring, it's about understanding. Student leaders on this campus work hard everyday to make life better for students. In doing so, we have to understand that we don't always get what we want. We have to know what battles to fight and when to concede defeat. Otherwise, we would argue indefinitely over minuscule issues and would never finish anything for the students we represent. I have been elected to decide what battles to fight on behalf of the student body, and I would be amiss if I didn't carry out my duties.
I challenge the Board of Trustees at Ball State University to add one more student representative to the search committee. There are almost 19,000 of us that will be directly affected by the decision of this committee. That's a lot of weight on the shoulders of just one student. What do you say...don't you think that we deserve the same respect as the faculty?
Write to Jason at jamanship@bsu.edu
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