Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 20 February 16, 1995 - BOV to add graduate student member

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BOV to add graduate student member

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 20 - February 16, 1995

The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has approved the appointment of a graduate student representative to the governing body of the university.

In approving the measure, the board acknowledged that "selecting two students, an undergraduate and a graduate, would enhance the representation of both student groups, improve the quality of input received by the Board of Visitors, the Division of Student Affairs, and the Graduate School in meeting their respective missions, and provide for more informed decision-making by the Board of Visitors."

The university has had an undergraduate student representative to the board since 1983.

The board's decision "recognizes us as viable members of the campus community," says Maureen Bezold, president of the Graduate Student Assembly.

Bezold went on to say that the board's decision would allow greater representation of graduate student concerns as well as undergraduate needs, since the two representatives can now focus on the issues important to each group.

"Neither representative will face a struggle to represent a group which they may have little in common with," she noted.

The graduate student representative, like the undergraduate student, will serve in an advisory capacity and will not have a vote on the board.

For Tom Goodale, vice president for student affairs, the board's action "allows for a significant percentage of the student population here at Virginia Tech--20 percent--to have their needs heard by the board."

The Graduate Student Assembly will supervise the selection process. Those names will then be submitted to the Board of Visitors for final selection.