As many Gustavus students are aware, when concerns about College policy are raised, it is not the Student Senate or the faculty that has the authority to make sweeping changes. Instead, this power is vested in the institution’s Board of Trustees. Currently, the Board does not have a seat among its members for either direct student or faculty representation. However, the Board has recently moved to consider adding student and faculty representation.

When the news surfaced indicating that the Board of Trustees was considering creating a provision to open a seat for student and/or faculty representation amongst their ranks, many people got excited. “[Representation on the Board] is potentially a very hot-button subject, as it was something that many students were pushing for last spring,” Barb Larson Taylor, assistant to the president for special projects, said.

Excitement from the student body itself has also been very high. “[A student position] would provide a more open and formal line of communication and allow [us] to disseminate information back to the students with regard to Board meetings,” Student Senate Co-President Derek Holm said.

Kristen Weller, senior theatre major, said that having representation on the Board makes sense. “[It] just seems right. If we are the ones that [the Board of Trustees] are most concerned with, shouldn’t we be highly involved in the decision-making process?”

President Jack Ohle said that in his opinion, Board members do a good job trying to reach out to Gustavus faculty and students and hearing their voices as often as possible. “[Gustavus’] form of governance is the most engaging form I have seen, as it involves a very wide base of constituents … alumni, friends and even the church in the activities of the Board of Trustees,” Ohle said.

While Trustees’ meetings are generally by invitation only, Ohle said, they are nearly always held on campus, and the reading of reports from students and faculty are welcomed and encouraged. Ohle also said that there simply isn’t enough time to address every single concern that comes from the students or faculty, because room for all major policy decisions must also be left on the Board’s agenda during the quarterly meetings.

At this point, the effort to gain student and/or faculty representation on the Board of Trustees has become two very separate issues. Students have lobbied for the inclusion of a student representative in conversations with Ohle. “[We] are in discussion with President Ohle about possible solutions for student representation … We decided that a draft of several possibilities for this representation would be sent to the Board,” Olson said.

Student Senate is pursuing a tentative plan that would include representation provided by a student who would not have any voting rights on Board measures.

“I don’t understand why a voting position isn’t in the discussion. I think that whatever body is making big decisions for the campus should have representation from both the students and the faculty,” Rachel Anderson, senior physics Teaching major said. “It’s pretty clear our system … is really kind of backwards. People who aren’t involved deeply with the college are making all of the decisions for us. Granted, maybe they’re alumni or maybe they provide funding, but I think it makes a lot of sense to have representation for the people actually here right now.”

At the same time, faculty members are pursuing their own avenue to secure some sort of representation on the Board of Trustees. “The faculty is whole-heartedly in favor of this and has been asking for it for some time now,” Alisa Rosenthal, professor of Political Science and vice chair of the Faculty Senate said.

While the faculty has had some discussion on the possibility of vying for representation with Ohle, who supports the plan, the decision is ultimately in the hands of the Board. Rosenthal added that the lack of representation creates a lack of essential communication. “The principles of shared governance underlying the structure of the College recognize that different constituencies of the college have different yet overlapping areas of primary concern, expertise and influence. The absence of communication—or allowing only heavily mediated communication or one-way communication—greatly diminishes the ability of these groups to work together to advance the mission of the College,” Rosenthal said.

Because of these strong opinions from both students and faculty members, the two groups have begun to get the attention of the Board of Trustees.  Mark Bernhardson, vice-chair of the Board, is leading a task force commissioned by the Board to look at the structure, makeup and the inclusion of other groups. As of now however, the status quo remains. “Students and faculty do not have representation … they have had opportunity to sit on committees to the Board but not sit in on main meetings,” Olson OR Holm said.

“[I am] hopeful that [the Board of Trustees] can engage students and faculty more directly because Gustavus is the first institution for which he has served whose Board of Trustees hasn’t had some form of connection to [student and faculty] constituents, other than the Student Senate Co-Presidents,” Ohle said.

Ohle added that there was a time in Gustavus’ history in which an allowance for student/faculty attendance at the Board of Trustees meetings did exist. “[I] doesn’t know the history of student representation on the Board, my understanding is that there used to be substantially more contact between Trustees and the faculty. That has waxed and waned, and seems to be at a remarkably low ebb at the moment,” Rosenthal said.

What the focus lies on now until the provision is directly addressed by the Board is how constituents’ concerns will be attended to. Ohle believes that in the end, that is what matters most. “The one vote in 38, 36 or 35 [Trustees] isn’t going to make the difference, it’s the matter of that voice that needs to be heard,” Ohle said.

Rosenthal added that if representation can be obtained for the students and for the faculty members, the school will be better off. “You increase trust, understanding, and productive communication by sitting down in the room together and actually listening to the points of view of other people,” Rosenthal said. “A silo approach wherein one only speaks and listens to those positioned similarly to oneself is at odds with the sort of intellectual curiosity and open communication Gustavus likes to claim as some of its hallmarks.”

If you do have questions or concerns that you would like to express, the Board of Trustees has created an e-mail alias for comments at GACtrustee@gustavus.edu.