Two students battle for single seat on Board of Governors

BELLEVILLE, FEBRUARY 12, 2013. David Pickett is the current Student Representative on Loyalist College’s Board of Governors. He believes it’s important for the two nominees running for his place to reach out to the students.

By Shelby Wye

This week marks the end of the election for the student representative for the Board of Governors.

The voting will begin February 13, and be completed the Friday at noon. Two nominees are running this year for the position, each planning on bringing their own perspectives to the position. However, most of these facts remain unknown to students.

Loyalist College ha a voter turnout of an average of 8-12 per cent. Past articles from QNet News have interviewed students, who come up with one common complaint: “I just didn’t know they were happening.”

The current student representative on the Board of Governors is David Pickett. He is a student graduating this year from Business Administration.

“Honestly, even when I got the position, I still didn’t really know what it was all about,” he said.

The Board of Governors is comprised of 18 members. Thirteen are from external sources and are appointed to the board. Four of them are from the college, one for each the students, the teachers, the administrative and support staff. The college president is also part of the Board.

“The idea of the board is to have a wide perspective. We’re advising the president of the college on big decisions, so having the diverse perspective helps to make the better choice,” said Pickett

The Board is split into two different committees. The academic student affairs and advocacy committee (AASAC) looks over matters directly related to the students, including new programs and student complaints. The finance, corporate services and governance committee (FCSGC) is more aware of the budgeting involved in running the school.

The board still comes together every month to discuss, debate and come to a solution over any problems that arise or any approvals that may be required for new initiatives.

“We are not a rubber stamp board; we do have discourse over many issues to come to a decision that will be the best for the school,” said Pickett. He says that their debates come to a conclusion, but there has certainly been some intense discourse over his term.

Unfortunately, those discourse remain private to the public, but Pickett assures that they came to solutions that were the best for the college.

Pickett spends about 10 to 20 hours a week serving the Board, which will include a variety of meetings and also readings of necessary paperwork to discuss in the next meeting he will attend. He also attends the student council meetings. The Board of Governor position is the only one on student council that is not paid.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s awesome. When you’re a student, you generally think that it’s a stuffy organization. When you’re part of it, it’s an entirely different. It’s a really good experience to be on this end,” said Pickett.

This year, there are two nominees running for Pickett’s position. Pickett wishes the two students well, knowing them both personally. He recommends that they try their best to tell people why they are running for the position.

“It opens up a conversation, that allows you to educate the student body on what the position really is.”