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Bill allows for students on boards of regents
March 3, 2004

As tuition prices at Texas public universities spike upward, so does the chance students may win a 30-year fight for a voice in governing their schools.

Written by Brandi Grissom, Abilene News

News213

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh

AUSTIN - As tuition prices at Texas public universities spike upward, so does the chance students may win a 30-year fight for a voice in governing their schools.

''In an era when regents are given the right to raise tuition, students should sit and help make that decision,'' said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who filed a bill that would require a voting student regent position on each public university board of regents. ''Students' voices should be heard if they're going to be taxed.''

In 2003, the Legislature gave regents the authority to set tuition, which had previously been determined by lawmakers. Since then, tuition at state schools has increased an average of 16 percent statewide.

Brent Chaney, student government president at the University of Texas at Austin, said although a 37 percent tuition jump has hit student pocketbooks hard, it has bolstered their argument for a student regent.

''Now, students need to go to the board of regents to make changes, so it's more important than ever that a student is placed on board of regents,'' Chaney said.

Boards of regents each currently have nine members appointed by the governor. Under the bill, one of those nine positions would be a student. University students would nominate the student regent, and the board of regents would make the appointment.

Students at Texas universities have been pressing for a voice on the boards that make decisions about schools they attend since the 1970s. Currently, students serve as regents of public universities in 39 states.

During the two previous legislative sessions, in 2001 and 2003, lawmakers sponsored bills to create a student regent position. Both times the bills died in committee.

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