Staff Editorial | Students deserve voice in Trustee decisions

Steven W. Korn ’75 has sat on the executive committees of CNN and Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. Former “Media Man of the Year” Robert J. Friedman ’78 is the former president of New Line Cinema, prior to which he was President of AOL Interactive Marketing & TV. Lurita Alexis Doan ’79 was appointed head of Government Services Administration by George W. Bush, and her company oversees border surveillance technology employed at most of the ports of entry on the US-Mexican and US-Canadian border. Until 2004, Lloyd J Braun ’80 served as Chairman of ABC Entertainment Group. And Brooke Duncan III ’74 is a labor lawyer, whose firm advises companies about maintaining union-free status.

Students: do the names of these media moguls, entrepreneurs and lawyers sound familiar? They are members of the Vassar Board of Trustees, responsible for approving many of the policy decisions passed by the College.

These specific trustee appointments may or may not be surprising in their biographies, but that students are by and large ignorant about trustees who have the ultimate say in many College policies is surprising. The fact that students have little awareness of who Vassar’s trustees are, how they are chosen and what function they serve in the College’s governance is disconcerting.

Trustees are involved in and make decisions about almost every aspect of College life. They approve every big policy change, appointment or decision. Recently, the Board has approved the divestment from Sudan, the appointment of Catharine Bond Hill as College President, the adoption of a need-blind admissions policy and the decision to construct a new block of Town Houses.

Currently students have no clear picture of how and why trustees are selected. They are not privy to that information, and they do not take part in those discussions. When Vassar’s Board of Trustees convenes, they do so behind closed doors. The only student allowed to observe trustee affairs is the Vassar Student Association president—and he or she has no voice or vote.

The absence of student voice in trustee decisions stands in contrast to peer institutions. Haverford, Brandeis and Tufts all have student representatives advising the board, while Cornell University has voting student trustees. Other institutions have been making an effort to appoint younger recent graduates as trustees, whereas few of Vassar’s have graduated in the past 30 years. The youngest trustee graduated in 1988.

It is paramount that students be included throughout the entire process of policy decision-making. Current undergraduates may not have law degrees or be CEOs of giant media corporations, and we may not be attuned to the machinations of the business world. However, we understand better than anyone how policy decisions and faculty appointments will affect current and future students.

This is not to say that specific trustees are by any means unqualified for their positions—there is no doubt that our trustees are some of the most successful and powerful individuals in their fields. But there is currently no way of determining if their priorities are in harmony with those of Vassar’s student body. The idea that students are incapable of comprehending broader issues regarding this institution and its operations is extremely problematic.

The College has indubitably undergone changes in the past 25 years, and bringing current students and recent graduates who have experienced today’s Vassar to the table would only strengthen the discussion.

There has been a motion to increasingly involve students in major administrative decisions. Two students served on the Presidential Search Committee in 2005, and a student committee has also been appointed to advise the ongoing search for Dean of the Faculty.

While the College has a responsibility to ensure a sustained student voice, students also must be aware of and utilize the opportunities given to them to make their voices heard. In the Fall 2005 semester, when the Presidential Search Committee held a forum to collect students’ ideas, no more than a dozen students attended. And when committees and administrators conduct surveys online so as to better serve students, the only way they can entice students to fill them out is by offering the potentiality of a free iPod or Retreat points.

The staff editorial represents at least a two-thirds majority of the 13-member editorial board.