Burnt Orange Report

Student Regent Bill Amended

By Byron LaMasters

On Monday, the House Higher Education committee amended the student regent bill, HB 1968. The bill co-authored by Reps. Eliot Naishtat (D-Austin) and Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) would allow for a voting student regent on the boards of regents of public Texas university systems. However, a version of the bill that would only allow a non-voting student member was substituted at the House Higher Education committee. The Daily Texan reports:

House Bill 1968, left pending in the House on Monday, was filed by state Rep. Patrick Rose, D-San Marcos, in late March. The bill originally called for a change in the Texas Constitution to allow a student appointed by the governor to serve one year as a voting member on their university's board of regents. [...]

However, on Monday Rose presented a substitution to the bill that would take away the student regents' power to vote.

Rose said the governor's office and some of his colleagues have been "very hesitant" about having a voting student regent, but with changes under the substitution, Rose said, "I think we have a shot."

Historically in Texas, student regent bills have not passed final legislation. Thirty-nine states currently have students serving as regents, 29 of which are voting members.

Rose said the amended bill has support from everyone on the House Higher Education Committee, whereas the original bill did not.

He said a non-voting student regent is not perfect, but it is "a step in the right direction."

I would agree that something is better than nothing, but a non-voting student regent would have no power to actually influence the board's decisions. Governor Rick Perry still might veto such a bill though:

Former Student Government President Brent Chaney said there was "strong opposition" from the governor's office toward having a voting student regent.

"A regent position is one of the most highly coveted appointment, probably the most coveted, that the governor makes. It became fairly clear from the governor's office that the governor would like to keep it the same [as] it's been done in the past," Chaney said.

Gov. Rick Perry's office could not be reached for comment.

The senate side is also working on a voting student regent as well.

Currently, there are three student regent bills filed in the Texas Legislature.

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth's, R-San Antonio, Senate Bill 934 was identical to Rose's bill prior to the amendments. Wentworth, who previously served a year on the Texas State University System Board of Regents, said he would prefer a voting student regent, but will support the amendments to the bill because it is an improvement to the current system.

State Sen. Elliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, also filed a student regent bill that would allow a student to serve two years on the board, with the first year serving as a designate member and the second year as a voting member. Shapleigh could not be reached for comment on whether or not he planned to change his bill.

While most of the SG leaders felt this to be an acceptable compromise, the Daily Texan editorialized that the compromise offered little to students:

A non-voting student representative on the UT System Board of Regents is not a student regent. He or she will be little more than an audience member.

The non-voting representative may have more time than the average student to voice concerns and complaints before the board. He or she might be invited to swanky fund-raising events and have the chance to show off his or her new business attire.

But the student will be seen as redundant with the student-advisory mechanisms currently in place at the system level. And, without a vote, regents will not be forced to consider student interest or opinion on contentious issues.

On the UT System Board of Regents, no vote will likely mean no voice. For UT students, this compromise offers little change from the status quo.