Once again the voice of the student body is being neglected.
System President William Jenkins appointed a committee on Tuesday to search for a replacement for Law Center Chancellor John Costonis.
The 14 people on the committee comprise a wide range of knowledge and experience. There are two federal judges, one state supreme court justice and numerous professors and attorneys. No one is questioning their credentials.
What we do question is why only one student, third-year law student and Student Bar Association President Amanda Gross, was selected to be on the committee. And we question why this practice continues to happen in the hiring of all important administrative positions at the University.
On Sept. 7, Chancellor Sean O’Keefe appointed a search committee to fill the position of provost and executive vice chancellor left open by the departure of Risa Palm. This time 22 members were selected for the committee. Only one student, Student Government President Chris Odinet, was among them.
Ultimately, the first job of these administrators is to serve the student body. Having just one student on a committee of 14 or 22 is not giving just consideration to the causes and concerns of the students on this campus. Their voice can easily be drowned out by the presence of so many on the committee who may or may not have the best interests of students at heart.
Even the students appointed to these committees agree.
“I was honored to be included,” Gross told The Daily Reveille. “[But] it would have been more appropriate to have more than just one. Our students need to have a voice.”
We couldn’t agree more.
One more important post remains to be filled. Jenkins announced in February he would be resigning as System president. A search committee has yet to be appointed to find his replacement. A preliminary list includes two students on the committee. We feel there should be more.
We strongly urge that due consideration to the voice of the student body, not just on this campus, but from all parts of the LSU System, be given when forming this committee. One student is clearly not enough to speak for the more than 60,000 in the University system.
The question we pose to the administration is, how much do we matter?
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