Search committee formed to select new student trustee for Miami's BoT

A search committee has been formed to help select one of Miami University's new student trustees for the university's board of trustees (BoT) beginning spring 2019.

Student trustees serve as non-voting members on the BoT, with the goal of helping board members understand the student experience. There are two of them on the board, and they each have staggered two-year terms. Senior political science and professional writing major Hallie Jankura will finish her term this spring.

The student trustees' role includes attending four board meetings each year, at which they present a report informing the board members what happened in students' lives in the past few months. Many of the board members do not live in the area and rely on the student trustees to tell them what is important to students.

Student trustees also serve on the academic affairs and student life committees as part of the BoT. They also attend finance and auditing committee meetings.

Jankura said she tries to stay involved on campus to get a better idea of what life is like for the whole student body before reporting to the BoT, though not a requirement for student trustees.

"I do a lot to make sure that we're being involved on campus and going to campus events," Jankura said. "It's completely our choice, so it's a lot of pressure because you get to kind of give them your impression of a holistic view of what students have been up to for the past few months."

Whoever is chosen to replace Jankura will join junior Megan Cremeans, a political science and integrated social studies education major who began her term this past February.

The search committee is made up of ten students in Associated Student Government (ASG), including the student body president, chief of staff, chief justice of the student court, speaker of the student senate, secretary for academic affairs, secretary for diversity and inclusion, two ASG senators nominated and approved by the senate and the two current student trustees.

Sophomore political science and black world studies major Jannie Kamara and senior urban and regional planning and economics major James Gale were elected as the two ASG senators on the committee.

"I ran for student body president last year, and after doing that, I felt like I had some good insight of [sic] a lot of different parts of the school," Gale said. "I would like to think that I would be able to contribute a valuable perspective for choosing [student] trustees for Miami."

The committee will meet twice before applications close to discuss the process and what qualities they are looking for in a student trustee. They also hope to get insight from the two current trustees and to learn more about their job to be able to better choose from the applicants, chair of the selection committee, senior political science and accountancy major Madeline Zinkl said.

Zinkl said although they have not yet discussed together what type of people the committee hopes to choose, she believes candidates should be empathetic and able to represent the entire student body instead of just people who are similar to themselves.

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"When you're serving on the board of trustees, you're not just serving yourself or your friends or what they say," Zinkl said.

Applications opened Oct. 10 and will close at 5 p.m. on Oct. 31. All candidates who meet the requirements will receive an interview, which will take place Nov. 10-11.

The selection committee will choose the five people they believe to be the most qualified. They will then submit those five names to Ohio Governor John Kasich, who will interview each candidate and make the final choice.

Applications are available on the Board of Trustees website and are open to any Ohio resident over 18 who will be a student at Miami for the entire two-year term.

berryrd@miamioh.edu