Students Divided on Vision as Push for Representation Moves Forward
Students gathered to discuss representation on the Board of Trustees late last month after the University Student Senate (USS) called for a special meeting in a university-wide email.
For years, students have pushed for representation on the 48-member board, which oversees all major administrative, strategic and financial decisions at the university, yet currently has no formalized process for participation or input from the university community.
Interest in the issue has gained momentum in recent months, as the USS has been drafting a proposal to present to the Board of Trustees at its meeting in February 2014.
Tensions ran high between students with opposing stances at the forum, as they tried to reach a consensus on what a proposal for student representation on the university’s highest governing body should look like. The primary point of contention was whether students should present a modest proposal for a few student representatives to sit on the board or whether they and faculty should demand shared governance and control over the board.
There were those, like USS co-chair Jens Astrup, who argued that, in order for any proposal to realistically be accepted by the board, the USS should recommend seven student representatives — one from each division — to the board.
But others, such as members of the Radical Student Union, argued that students, faculty and staff should share majority voting power on the board and should not wait for an invitation to sit at the table.
“A few students on the board would be insufficient to change the structural composition of the board, which alone is responsible for the decisions it produces,” RSU member Eli Lichtenstein said. “As long as hedge fund managers and real estate titans control the board, students, faculty and staff will remain marginalized.”
Some felt that a pragmatic approach would be necessary to avoid being rejected outright and questioned if students would be qualified to make decisions that the Board makes. “Asking for a majority ignores the achievements of the board and the enormous work that is undertaken by the board,” Astrup said.
But RSU member Sarah Giffin disagreed: “Our community of student and faculty scholars has all the expertise we need,” she said. “We have economists, business and nonprofit managers and most importantly, a deeper understanding of the relevant financial and institutional issues than the boardís corporate experts.”
Despite political differences, students at the meeting shared a common frustration at the lack of student voice in the governance of The New School. If student efforts are successful, USS co-chair Benjamin Silverman explained, it would give students a greater voice and remake the university through an inclusive, democratic process. “It could be the start of a ‘New School Spring’ in its own way,” he said.
A concrete plan did not materialize the night of the forum, but those present left committed to researching and building coalition across the university community and preparing a solid plan of action in time for the Board of Trustees’ next meeting in February.
“The issue of board representation intersects with every other issue currently on campus,” Silverman said, “from divestment, to class size, to tuition, to everything else.”
Success, he emphasized, will require a coordinated and united push by students, faculty and the people who make the university run every day. “If we become divided, we lose. Period.”