A member without a vote
Chris Coletta, who will be working with the News & Record for the summer, authored this piece on the debate over whether the student member of the UNC system's board of governors should have a vote.
Regular readers of this blog (hey you three!) will remember I posted audio from the House debate in which some of the honorables laid out their point of view. (Click here to find that post.)
At least one Greensboro blogger thinks the student member couldn't stand the pressure of having a vote. Gate of gatecity blog writes: "A student having voting rights would create an additional dynamic to the game, and they would be lobbied by all. I doubt that a young student would be able to handle the pressure that would be put on him or her. It is unfortunate that I feel this is so, but I think it is the realist in me."
Coletta gives another take in his story, from board member Ray Farris, who says: "students' ability to advocate actually would be diminished under the plan. Voting board members are required to be impartial policy-makers, he said, and can't advocate for one group as students now do. 'I think it would be difficult for a student representative to take a certain position (and have a vote),' he said. 'They are expected to advocate for students. We lose the whole purpose of having a student on the board by having them do as others do.' "
I know there are plenty who disagree with those views, saying that if you bother to put a student on the board you ought to let them participate fully. I've heard some make a numerical argument that goes something like, "Well, the student would only have one of 33 votes. How badly could they screw something up?"
The thing I found most interesting in Coletta's piece is the fact the current board member is serving in a number of capacities, including as part of the search committee to find a new system president. Both sides use this as evidence to back their argument, with those against saying that the student already serves effectively without a vote and backers saying it is an example of the student exercising their power wisely.
I'm open to your thoughts. Or e-mail Chris by clicking here.