The four finalists for the soon-to-be-open student trustee position will head to Columbus in March to be interviewed by Gov. John Kasich, who will appoint one to join current student trustee Keith Wilbur.
To get to know the candidates better, The Post sat down with them to ask some basic questions about why they want the gig and how they envision themselves in the role on campus.
We compiled their answers into a Q&A on page four of today’s newspaper, and we were amused to learn how much the prospective student trustees still have to learn.
Between the four finalists, two said they did not know enough about the guaranteed tuition plan to make a statement about it. Three said they didn’t know much about the Capital Improvement plan, and two of those three admitted they’d never heard of it.
The good news is that three out of the four finalists support student-trustee voting rights (the fourth said she hadn’t decided), which is unusual for a university whose student trustees (with the exception of Wilbur) have a recent history of opposing that right. What’s ironic, of course, is that the right to vote is useless if you don’t understand what you’re voting on.
But as easy as it is for us to point out that absurd discrepancy, we can’t realistically pretend to be surprised.
Without a right to vote, what good is an informed trustee? If the student trustees’ only role is to sit in on board meetings and “represent” the student opinion without the ability to vote, what does it matter whether they know what guaranteed tuition is?
If students don’t vote for them and they can’t vote on behalf of the students, we shouldn’t seek or expect insight and competency from our student trustees. The most applicable skills for their positions are head-nodding, handshaking, politely requesting letters of recommendation and posing for pictures with the governor.
May the best candidate win.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
