A bill is making its way through the New Hampshire State Senate that would give students more of a voice on the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) Board of Trustees.
SB528, Sponsered by Senator James Gray (R) of District Six and Representative Rodrick Ladd (R), Grafton 5, would allow for one student trustee from each school on the board at all times, according to the bill.
However, only two student trustees will have voting power. The voting ability will rotate amongst the student trustees, which will be determined by the USNH board.
The Equinox previously reported in November 2023, the idea of reworking how student votes and student trustee members work was being redesigned.
University System Student Board Representative and junior Zachary Christie said in a Friday, Feb. 23 interview, the proposed bill is not exactly what they were looking for, but was successful nonetheless.
“It’s a victory for us because it will eliminate this gap we’ve had … there will always be a Keene student trustees on the board but it was not a victory in terms of voting privileges,” Christie said.
Historically, Student trustees rotated between the colleges of USNH. With the recent merger between the University of New Hampshire and Granite State College (GSC), the existing system was thrown off.
One student from two of the schools is allowed to have a representative who can be a voting party on the board. The student who is a trustee serves on the board for two years before rotating to the other two schools. The loss of the GSC student, it creates an imbalance.
Christie, who spearheaded the idea on the board level, previously told The Equinox in November, “I saw it as an opportunity to increase student voice on the board to increase student representation and that rotating model really created an issue.”
The original legislative service request proposed by the USNH Board of Trustees, was to have one student from each of the schools be a voting member on the board.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox
