A student will have a seat at every meeting of the State College Board under a bill passed last month by the Mississippi Legislature, but the student will not be a voting member of the board.
The bill, Senate Bill 2915, reserves a seat for the current president of the Student Body President’s Council of Mississippi, a group made up of the student body presidents of Mississippi’s eight public universities, or for his or her designee. The bill also calls for the College Board to seek the advice of the SBPC at least once a year.
Student Association President JR Love was elected head of the SBPC over the weekend, and he said he looks forward to working with the College Board.
“I’d just like to express to them the best interests of the students,” Love said.
Although Love will be present at every meeting, he will not vote or participate in executive sessions, Student Association vice president Lee Weiskopf said.
“That was our original goal, but we ran into a lot of opposition from some senators and administrators within the College Board,” he said.
Also, adding a student as a voting member would require a constitutional amendment that the people of Mississippi would have to vote on, Weiskopf said.
“Going this route gives us a chance to prove ourselves,” he said.
The student will give a report to the College Board and be available for questions from board members.
College Board spokesperson Annie Mitchell said the board and Commissioner Tom Meredith were excited about having a student sit in on board meetings.
“Before the Legislature even voted on it, we had already put a reserved seat for the overall SGA president,” she said.
Having a student member of the College Board has been on the mind of student body presidents at MSU and other universities for a few years, Weiskopf said. He and former SA President Jon David Cole traveled to Jackson several times beginning last summer as guests of Rep. Virginia Carlton (R-Columbia), who sponsored the bill in the House.
The House version died, but a version in the Senate, authored by Alice V. Harden (D-Jackson), passed both Houses after almost dying in the House. Cole and Weiskopf went to Jackson and “more or less lobbied for this and told them how important it was to us,” Weiskopf said.
In addition to the student seat at board meetings, all student body presidents have an invitation from Meredith to attend a board meeting every three months.
“The good thing about the bill is that it’s law now, and they have to have student representation there,” Weiskopf said.
He added that he will continue working toward the goal of getting a voting student member on the College Board.
“I think we should never sell ourselves short of what our original goal is and what we want.”