ASPSU in search of student nominee

The Associated Students of Portland State University have been given the monumental task of selecting and recommending a student candidate to serve on PSU’s new Board of Trustees, which, according to the nominee application, will serve as a “policy and decision-making body.”

The search was prompted by the passing of Senate Bill 270, which called for the immediate establishment of institutional boards for the University of Oregon and PSU.

Per the bill, the Board of Trustees will consist of up to 15 members—the majority being members of the general public—and will include PSU’s president as a nonvoting member as well as one classified PSU employee, one PSU faculty member and one PSU student member.

While it has been established that the student member will have voting rights, it is yet to be determined whether the classified employee and faculty members will as well. While there was an option to have more than one student member to serve on the board, PSU chose to allow only one.

ASPSU begun the search for its student nominee July 15 and will continue to accept applications until noon of July 26.

Per the organization’s press release, it “will conduct a very intentional and intense vetting process” before deciding which applicant will be nominated to sit on the PSU institutional board.

ASPSU has good reason to be thorough in their search, since there may come a time when the nominated student board member is the only opposition against other committee members when it comes to issues that will affect PSU students, such as tuition increases.

According to ASPSU president Harris Foster, the ideal candidate will be passionate about “maintaining student autonomy” and knowledgeable about PSU’s inner workings, and “is someone who will fight for PSU’s students even when the president or anyone else on the institutional board does not agree with them.”

Those interested in applying for the two-year position can find links to the application on ASPSU’s Facebook (facebook.com/ASPSUpdx) and Twitter (twitter.com/ASPortlandState) pages, as well as on the ASPSU website at aspsu.pdx.edu.