Student regent speaks out

The creation of the "student regent" invoked a policy debate rarely seen in Olympia today. Opponents were concerned about conflicts of interest and student competence to govern. Proponents believed a student regent would bring new accountability and insight to governance. Despite these differences, the debate was always collegial and friendly. I should know. I drafted Senate Bill 5517, creating the office.

To avoid a conflict of interest, students in those days made it clear that the student regent was not to be the primary student advocate. That responsibility was to remain with the student-body president as it does today.

So what role does the student regent really play in University governance? In most respects, my office is identical to that of the other regents. We all share a fiduciary duty to the University. The people of the state have entrusted us to keep the state's largest academic institution financially secure. We also share a legal responsibility for the University. Ultimately, we must answer legal challenges to University actions.

We are responsible for guiding this institution in achieving its mission - the creation and dissemination of knowledge to the public. Our community has many micro-interests, including salaries, tenure, tuition and housing, but we all share this one larger mission. My primary job, like that of my nine colleagues, is to balance these various micro-interests to achieve the larger objective.

Sometimes that requires us to make unpopular decisions. For example, some contend I should have opposed the energy fee because it seemed against student interests. I would have failed at my job, however, if I did not act with the larger picture in mind. We could have averted a major budget deficit through this small and temporary fee, along with other measures. Now we are forced to deal with a serious shortfall in the face of severe state budget cuts. The likely solution will be a larger, permanent tuition increase. One micro-interest, saving current students $45 each quarter, may ultimately hurt us in achieving our larger goal - providing a first-class education to students regardless of means. Student government rightly opposed the fee, but it was my job to support a reasonable fee because it would have helped our situation in the long term.

Nonetheless, I am still a student and that makes me different from the other regents. I wait in lines in Schmitz Hall and call STAR to register for classes. I see UW operations from the ground up. I know what campus climate is truly like, and I know how we students budget our time and money. The student regent brings a new level of accountability to University governance. I try to bring fresh ideas to the table from the perspective of an "education consumer." I bury our faculty and administrators every day with thoughts, observations and requests. They are here to provide all of us with a world-class education at a price we can afford, and they know I am watching. That is my job.