A cartoon depicting non-smokers telling a cloud of smoke he cannot sit with them. Editorial cartoon by The Signal reporter Trey Blakely.

EDITORIAL: UHCL student body unfairly represented on shared governance committees

By Editorial Board Last updated Jun 25, 2017 443 0

At the start of the Fall 2017 semester, UHCL will be considered a smoke-free campus thanks to the approval of the latest smoking policy by the University Council (UC). While this initiative is common for universities across the nation, the process of approving the change is concerning in regard to students’ opinions not being fully taken into account.

During the Spring 2017 semester, the UC was presented with a recommendation by the University Life Committee (ULC) to change UHCL from a campus with designated smoking locations to being exclusively smoke free. The UC, chaired by President William Staples, voted on the recommendation with 18 in favor of UHCL being smoke free, 5 against and 3 abstentions.

While the change has been officially approved and will be implemented, the fact remains that of the 8,000 plus UHCL students, only 44 were given the chance to actually vote on the matter.

In the Fall 2016 semester, members of the ULC were tasked to reach out to their respective constituents for opinions regarding the possible policy change. Of the 15 members, only two are student representatives.

The ULC student representatives conducted a straw poll at the March 21 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting. Of the students in attendance, 28 voted for UHCL becoming smoke free and 13 voted against. This poll was the only pursued means of collecting student opinions on the smoke-free initiative.

The ULC student representatives presented that data to the rest of the committee and an official vote was conducted with 9 in favor and 2 against UHCL becoming smoke free.

From this, the ULC submitted the recommendation to the UC, which only has one student representative on the council: the SGA president, who at the time of voting was AJ Johnson.

Johnson presented a middle-ground stance on behalf of UHCL students that would seek to keep the designated smoking areas on campus but possibly relocate some to avoid building entrances.

Though Johnson worked to get the UC to not push forward with an exclusively smoke-free campus policy, one student representative can only do so much when outnumbered and outvoted.

Students had a right to vocalize their thoughts on the smoke-free initiative, but were essentially shut out of the process unless they happened to be in attendance at the March 21 SGA meeting — a meeting that was held around 11:30 a.m. on the Tuesday after Spring Break.

The real question presented by the process is that with minimal student representatives on shared governance committees, how is it possible for the voices of 8,000 plus to be fairly heard?

The UHCL Shared Governance System (SGS) are committees that oversee policy implementation. UHCL’s SGS consists of: UC, ULC, Academic Council (AC), Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC), and Facilities and Support Services Committee (FSSC).

Only five student representatives sit on these committees including: the SGA president on the UC, one undergraduate and one graduate student on the ULC, one SGA representative on the PBC and FSSC.

In total, there are 28 members on the UC, 15 members on the ULC, 19 members on the AC, 17 members on the PBC and 19 members on the FSSC. That means of the 98 seats across the five committees, five are student representatives.

During his run as SGA president, Johnson was able to push through the creation of a student government senate which will aim to more accurately represent the UHCL student body as a whole.

The senate will be comprised of 25 elected students with five seats reserved for each of the four colleges and five seats for student organization representatives. Election of senators will take place in Spring 2018.

While this is a step in the right direction, in order for real student body representation on campus, shared governance committees need to add more student seats at the table.

It is unrealistic to think that one or two student representatives can accurately be the voice for a student body consisting of thousands. Adding more student positions to these committees in order to balance the student-faculty-staff voting member ratio allows for fairly reasonable representation.

Student representatives on these committees need to be more engaging with the student body they are elected to represent. Carrying the title of a student representative may look good on a resume, but the title brings no real weight if the person doesn’t actively pursue every and all means to hear, respect, present and defend the voices of the entire student body.

Although it is an impossibly daunting task of being the voice for thousands within a growing diverse university community, the responsibility to try is still imperative. Reaching out through surveys online, sending email updates and providing opportunities for students to meet their representatives would be steps in the right direction.

While the newly updated smoking policy has been approved and is moving forward, students can still reach out to SGA and the student representatives on the shared governance committees to vocalize their opinions and inquire about open positions. Elections for student representative seats on these committees will take place during the Fall 2017 semester.

This new policy and the approval process has highlighted a need for change in how students are represented. While the responsibility of staying informed belongs to the student body, the responsibility to reach out to the student body belongs to the student representatives on these committees. Furthermore, the expansion of student representation in the SGS is necessary to ensure UHCL is an inclusive rather than exclusive community.