After a long battle, Penn State finally has a codified “student-selected” student member of the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees office has announced that applications are now available for both the student trustee position and the selection group. Although the procedure agreed upon by the Governance Committee to advertise these applications did not include a press release for our fine website, Onward State still got the scoop.

There are six open spots on the selection group for at-large student members of the university, and one spot for the next student member of the Board of Trustees. Members of the selection group will review applications from students applying to be the student trustee, interview the applicants, and provide a recommendation for a candidate to the chair of the entire Board of Trustees. From there, the preferred candidate(s) will be interviewed by three trustees as chosen by the chair, and the recommended candidate will be forwarded to the Governance and Long Range Planning Committee, which will in turn make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees at large. Ah, university bureaucracy at its finest.

But wait, there’s more! The Standing Orders of the BOT have this saucy little stipulation added in there (emphasis added):

It is expected that the Committee on Governance and Long Range Planning would recommend, and the Board of Trustees would approve, the candidate recommended by the Selection Group unless issues with the recommended candidate’s background check, student conduct issues, academic standing issues or other issues arise or exist that in the opinion of the Board of Trustees would make the preferred candidate unsuitable for service on the Board of Trustees.

In any case, because current student trustee Allie Goldstein is technically a governor-appointed trustee (who also happens to be a student), this newly-selected student trustee will join Goldstein as she finishes her tenure and the board will have two student voices to appreciate. Let’s hope the next student brings it like Goldstein has so far.

Applications for the selection group are due Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. and ones for the student trustee position are due Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. Submissions are accepted via email at [email protected] or by mail to the Board of Trustees office. Both applications can be found here. Questions can be sent via e-mail to [email protected].