Filling student vacancies in university committees is the job of the student body president–a job that ASPSU President Courtney Morse has failed to do adequately. Seven months after she became student body president, Morse has filled only 27 out of 90 student positions on university committees, many of which have been filled only in the last two months.
Twenty-three committees–committees that help make decisions on things such as required graduation credits or how the university budget is constructed for next year-have no student representation.
For an administration that talks about involving students, students seem to be pretty far out of the picture.
Instead of fulfilling this simple and necessary requirement, Morse and the Associated Students of Portland State University have concentrated their efforts on lobbying to politicians in Salem for more funding for higher education, and by registering students to vote during last fall’s midterm elections.
Of course these are commendable goals and important pursuits, but they should not take precedence over ensuring that a student voice is heard on campus. Making sure that a student voice is heard should be obvious and easy. It’s the reason why each committee is required to have a student element. We elect state politicians to represent our interests in Salem and at the nation’s capitol. We elect students to serve in ASPSU to represent student interests on campus.
Of course it is important to push for the student voice statewide, and even nationally. But it is more important to make sure that Portland State functions.
The Student Fee Committee zero-funded both Student Activities and Leadership Programs and student publications during initial 2007-08 budget allocations. The groups were zero-funded because both groups’ boards never met to review budgets.
The Publications Board and the SALP Advisory Board never met because Morse appointed no students to either board.
Both groups will be able to appeal for funding, but because Morse failed to appoint students, the SFC process was hindered. How many more times will university processes be hindered because Morse did not push for student involvement?
Committees might continue to function without student input-obviously the majority of them do. But ASPSU and Morse must immediately refocus at least some of their resources and attention on making sure that these boards and committees have student representation for the rest of the year. For an administration that has accomplished so little in the way of tangible results, this would seem like an easy way to do something meaningful and positive.
Morse said that she “should be the one who ultimately takes responsibility” for the unfilled positions. The truth is that she must prove that she will.