A bill is once again on the ballot that would give universities the option to allow student trustees to have a vote on the Board of Trustees.
Another year, another shot at student trustees getting voting rights in Ohio.
Giving Ohio public universities’ student trustees voting rights is hardly a novel idea, as bills pushing that concept have bounced around Ohio’s Statehouse for at least four decades.
Legislators keep introducing and re-introducing those bills for good reason: Student trustees deserve to have a vote.
The bill passing does not necessarily give student trustee voting rights. Instead, it leaves that decision to the individual universities.
We support the bill and hope that it not only passes at the state level, but that Ohio University’s administration takes that a step further and actually gives the university student trustees voting rights.
As of now, student trustees have not been as effective as they could be.
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Student trustees are the representatives of the student body to the Board of Trustees. These students cannot represent the body to the extent that they should if they are not allowed actual votes.
OU’s current student trustees, P.J. Roden and Sharmaine Wilcox, are certainly both available to hear students’ concerns at all times. We think those concerns could be better communicated to the Board of Trustees if Roden and Wilcox were voting members.
We hope OU students have advocates in Roden, Wilcox and legislators in the Statehouse, who will push for this bill to pass.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes, Opinion Editor Will Gibbs and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
