The Board of Trustees has officially invited representatives from the three major Penn State student governments to sit in on private committee meetings that are held the day prior to the general public board meetings, as first reported by the Daily Collegian.

Four seats will be available for the three presidents of the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA), the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG), and the Graduate Student Association (GSA), with the fourth seat rotating each year between UPUA and CCSG.

These student leaders will be allowed access to four of the five meetings of Board of Trustees committees, which were created this past year and include the committee on audit, risk, legal and compliance, the committee on governance and long-range planning,  the committee on academic affairs and student life, the committee on finance, business and capital planning, and the committee on outreach, development and community relations.

This is just another step that the board is taking to try and make themselves more transparent and accessible to the student body. Our student leaders will be able to provide a voice for us in these committee meetings and can offer input that reflects our wants and needs, which was an integral part of the Six Points for Change. It is not clear yet which four committees these representatives will be invited to sit in on.

UPUA president Courtney Lennartz, CCSG president Ben Clark, and GSA president Wanika Fisher will all be attending committee meetings on behalf of their respective student governments. UPUA vice president Katelyn Mullen will have the fourth seat this year, with a CCSG representative set to take her spot during the 2013-2014 school year.