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Opinion | Student trustee position needs to be chosen quickly

Editorial Board

Finalists for Miami University's student trustee position were chosen by Associated Student Government (ASG) and forwarded to Ohio Gov. John Kasich for final selection. Out of 15 applicants, three were chosen by ASG and sent to the governor over winter break.

ASG looked for candidates who were confident, comfortable talking in front of people, prepared, with institutional knowledge and eager to make a difference at Miami.

Now the finalists must wait until the governor makes his selection of the new student trustee, which will hopefully be named by the end of the school year.

While Kasich's office has confirmed receiving ASG's candidate recommendations, there is no telling if a decision will be made in the near future.

While two student trustees are supposed to sit on the board, it took nearly a year for the governor to select the last student trustee. As such, there has only been one student trustee on the board.

The editorial board of The Miami Student thinks the process in choosing a student trustee should not take as long as it has in the past, and hopes the process of picking a second student trustee will be much more efficient.

It is understandable that Kasich has other tasks and jobs he must attend to and take care of, but we must ask how long should this really take?

The task is simple: to look over three applications to find a student who is the best possible choice to represent Miami University.

The student trustee is the voice of student body and the university needs someone on the board who represents the student body. Student trustees are uniquely able to answer questions and offer perspectives to administrators based on what's going on within the student body.

With the amount of time being taken to choose a student trustee, terms are being cut short and the voices of Miami students are not fully represented.

The student trustees give another opinion and another voice, and in order to efficiently speak for the students they represent, a new trustee needs to be chosen as soon as possible.

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