A bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday will open two seats on the Cal State University Board of Trustees to thousands of more students — and waive tuition for whoever takes those seats.
Senate Bill 325, authored by Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego) and sponsored by the California State Student Association, will waive tuition for student trustees and allow sophomores to apply for a position on the Board beginning Jan. 1.
Previously, the CSU limited the student trustee title to juniors, seniors and graduate students. Under SB 325, though, the position will become available to 100,000 more applicants, according to CSSA President Sarah Couch.
Couch said that without a tuition waiver, student trustees seemed to face trouble paying for school while sitting on the Board.
“We [CSSA] saw that trustees were having a hard time holding the job and paying their way,” Couch said. “The waiver would … make it so that students who have financial difficulties or who would be working that full-time job to pay for their education — it allows them to go for that student trustee role.”
Two seats on the Board are designated for student trustees who serve two-year terms, according to the CSU website. Only one of the student trustees is granted full voting rights at a time, as students gain voting rights in the second year of their term.
According to CSU Spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp, waiving student trustees’ tuition would be handled within the 23-campus system, but how they will be waived or covered has not yet been determined.
He also said the CSU supported the bill’s passage.
“There’s much more to the student trustee than just serving on the [Board],” Uhlenkamp said. “There’s going to Sacramento, going to campuses. There are academic responsibilities as a student. This would allow them to focus on those responsibilities while serving as a trustee.”
Uhlenkamp added that he knows of no specific reason why lower division students could not before apply for a trustee position on the Board. He said that in the CSU, sophomores tend to be older than might be expected.
“They’re 20 years old, 24 years old,” he said. “They could very well be more mature. I don’t think the ‘sophomore’ necessarily defines them in terms of what experience they’re bringing.”
Maria Lopez, communications director for Block, said the bill was created not only to allow student trustees to focus on their CSU positions but also to further ensure that the student voice is heard.
“As a former CSU professor and dean, I know that students add a critical and valuable in-the-trenches perspective to the deliberations of the trustees and their decision making,” Block said in a press release.
According to Lopez, the bill also aimed to match the CSU’s requirements for student trustees with the University of California’s requirements for its student regents.
According to the UC Board of Regents website, student regents may either receive a fee waiver or a scholarship to cover their fees and tuition during the academic years they serve. Student regents serve one-year terms.
The current voting student trustee on the Board is Cipriano Vargas, a Cal State San Marcos student, and his term will end next year. Brown appointed the non-voting student trustee, Cal State Northridge student Talar Alexanian, in July.
