[Alumni-chat] Student Trustees

[Shadrach Stanleigh]

I think the idea of student trustees is a logical - and understandable - outgrowth of the disgust with Murdock & Co.'s blatant disregard for Antioch's institutional structure by ignoring Adcil and making announcements relating to the College's status while students were away for the summer.   But there are practicalities involved:
   
  *  Can the student away on co-op necessarily get to trustees' meetings?
   
  *  Does a "student" seat expire when the student graduates or withdraws, or does a student move into the "alumni/former student" compartment?
   
  *  Can a student sit on the BOT and simultaneously hold a seat on Adcil or Comcil and if so, what are the democratic implications?
   
  A college whose charter makes clear it is independent from any overarching university and its competing constituent entities which - intentionally or otherwise - act in a parasitic fashion on the host (as happened leading up to the current crisis) obviates these problems.   
   
  Did we get to this point because students weren't on the BOT?   No.   We got there because of administrative mismanagement and because a University president felt entitled to ignore the board.   Vesting such power in an executive (or an executive simply arrogating this notion to him/herself - witness the current U.S. administration) generally tends to yield such results.
   
  That being said, a student, staff and faculty voice in electing trustees of the new college makes perfect sense.
   
  Shad '87