Title on Ballot: Appointment of Student Body President to Board of Governors of the State University System
Sponsor/Originator: The Florida Legislature
What it would do:
This amendment would change the way the state selects the student representative on the state university system’s Board of Governors, which oversees the university system.
IF YOU VOTE YES:
A “yes” vote means you want the state create a new council of university student presidents from which the student representative to the Board of Governors will be chosen.
IF YOU VOTE NO:
A “no” vote means you want to keep the current system of selecting the student representative to the Board of Governors.
Click here for link to Florida Division of Elections Background on Amendment 12 (including full text of the amendment)
Summary of Amendment (from Division of Elections site):
Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to replace the president of the Florida Student Association with the chair of the council of state university student body presidents as the student member of the Board of Governors of the State University System and to require that the Board of Governors organize such council of state university student body presidents.
Arguments for:
Supporters say this amendment guarantees every university has a chance to have their student body president be named as a representative of the Board of Governors.
Arguments against:
Opponents say this amendment is unnecessary.
Should the state change the way the student representative on the university system’s Board of Governors is selected?
Amendment 12 concerns the student representative on the Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s university system. The Board of Governors has 17 members, one of which is the chairman of the Florida Student Association (FSA). If passed, Amendment 12 would instruct the Board of Governors to create a new council consisting of the student body presidents of the state’s 12 universities. The chair of that new council would replace the chair of the FSA as the student representative to the Board of Governors.
This measure won unanimous approval in the House and near unanimous approval in the Senate. As with all amendments, passage requires the approval of 60 percent or more of the votes. If approved by the voters, it would go into effect on Jan. 8, 2013.
History
In 2002, roughly 60 percent of Florida’s voters approved a constitutional amendment creating a Board of Governors to oversee state universities. Three of its 17 members are seated by virtue of position and 14 are appointed by the governor and subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
The appointed members serve seven-year terms. The three members seated by virtue of position are the Florida Education Commissioner, the chair of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates (representing university faculty), and the chair of the FSA (representing university students).
Student body presidents from the state’s various universities comprise the FSA, which charges membership dues. Over the years, several universities chose not pay the dues and participate in the FSA. As a result their representatives in those years could not have been the student representative on the Board of Governors.
The Board of Governors
Broadly speaking, the Board of Governors oversees the operation of the state’s 12 universities. It defines the mission of each university, submits annual budgets to the Legislature, governs degree programs and oversees admissions programs, among other duties.
The FSA
The Florida Student Association formed in 1976 as a not-for-profit research and advocacy group representing university students. A year later the Florida Legislature provided student representation on the Board of Regents (forerunner of the Board of Governors), and in 1978 secured voting rights for the student member of the Regents. A priority of the FSA is keeping tuition increases to a minimum. Over the years it has been involved in efforts to reduce teacher-student ratios and increase voter participation among students, and an advocate for the state’s pre-paid college program and the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. Its mission is to advocate the interests of the state university students at all levels of government.
IF YOU VOTE YES:
A “yes” vote means you want the state create a new council of university student presidents from which the student representative to the Board of Governors will be chosen.
IF YOU VOTE NO:
A “no” vote means you want to keep the current system of selecting the student representative to the Board of Governors.
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This is very confusing. Unless I can be convinced to vote to change the constitution, I will continue to vote NO.
As I understand it, under the current setup any university not able or willing to pay the dues to be a member of the FSA are ineligible to represent the student body on the Board of Governors. My very limited research has revealed that the dues to be a member of the FSA are only $500 anually, but the fact that paying those dues is a requirement to represent the student body is discriminatory in my opinion. The creation of this new council doesn’t appear to add much bureaucracy and creates a level playing field for the selection of a representative. Seems like a good idea to me.
Sounds like creating another bureaucracy. Definitely NO unless somebody explains it otherwise.
You should not have to pay dues to a private organization in order to have a chance to be selected for public office.
This site was most informative; the source valuable to my time in the voting booth, Thanks!
The inmates running the asylum.
But what should we expect given it is the “people’s representatives” ordering the “people what to do?”
If I, as a senior citizen, have a dog in this fight, someone will need to point it out to me.
Otherwise, I will skip this box on the ballot and leave it to the ones most involved to decide.
Currently the president of the Florida Student Association represents all 12 state universities by sitting on the Board of Governors. The proposed change would mean that any one of the 12 university student body presidents that make up the FSA would be eligible to sit on the Board, even if they are not the president of the FSA. This would make the FSA president and the BoG representative two separate people, whereas now it is one person holding both positions.
Why replace the FSA?
I thought I was gonna vote yes on one of them…
Then I realized that this is about replacing the FSA’s chair.
No.
What this is all about is that Florida State refuses to pay the FSA dues but wants to be president. This would give FSU what it wants.
At first, I didn’t want to vote for more bureaucracy in government. But then I read the FSA is not a government entity but a non-profit advocacy group that charges dues to the schools. And if the school chooses not to belong to the FSA (read: you don’t believe what we believe), your student body president is ineligible to be elected to the Board of Governers. That is NOT democracy in action. I’m voting FOR the amendment.
wouldn’t not paying the fees indicate that the school does not care about providing its input on the issues being reviewed by the FSA. If there is a student representative from the college, then the college’s input would be available during debates on different topics within the FSA…
Am I not understanding this correctly?
The FSA is made up of the student body presidents of all 11 state universities.
I say vote yes, Why? because you give all 12 Universities a voice. Plus has the FSA been keep tuition increases to a minimum? have the student to teacher ratios fallen? They are just not effective and this could be the change needed to help get a better education in this state.
Ditto, very confusing, therefore a no. And agree with all comments thus far.
I believe the rationale behind this amendment is that Florida State University (FSU) is not part of the FSA and does not have the same representation as the other state universities.
http://myfsa.org/universities
Hope this helps!
The FSA has been instrumental in fighting for students since it’s inception in 1975. (Look up the website and read about all that this organization has done over the years). It’s a shame in tight budgets that universities would choose not to pay for their students to be represented in this very active student organization. Creating another level of bureaucracy is silly and wasteful. And could possibly involve a political appointment of a student to the Board of Governor’s instead of a student actively involved in the cause of all students in our university system. The FSA has been a thorn in the side of the legislature advocating for students. This amendment is another example of how our legislature deals with thorns. I’m voting NO.
This takes power away from the students and universities to have representation and gives the power to the Republican controlled house and senate to insert a student to represent the interests of the state. As it sits now, the student body sends a representative to the panel. If enacted Republicans could diminish liberal and progressive viewpoints from entering the arena. Traditionally student bodies lean more democratic. This is a BIG NO. This is restructuring in the name of spreading non-science(nonsense).
I just read through several newspaper articles and editorials about this Amendment, and I can’t believe how opponents to this have twisted its meaning. It seems like the current system is “pay-to-play” – if a school declines to use their public treasury (yes, public money) to pay into a private company, the law allows that private company (fsa) to block that school from participating in elections for the State Board of Governors.
How on earth is it FAIR that a private organization REQUIRE someone to PAY for an opportunity to vote for a government elected-position. One of the articles mentioned that because of this Amendment, the fsa decided to temporarily eliminate dues from their requirements – oh hey, how nice of them! If this Amendment fails I can only imagine how quickly those dues will be reinstated.
This doesn’t seem fair at all. I had no idea what the Board of Governors even was before visiting this website. But seeing how the current system in place is completely unfair and elitist, I couldn’t help but share my opinion. Take it for what it’s worth.
During the past spring Legislative Session in Tallahassee, lawmakers in a bi-partisan effort passed Joint Resolution 931 regarding the appointment of the student member of the Board of Governors (BOG). The adoption of this resolution places this issue before voters in November as State Constitutional Amendment Ballot Number 12.
Essentially, Number 12 would remove language from the Florida Constitution that automatically appoints the Chair of the Florida Student Association (FSA) as the student member on the BOG. In its place, a council of student body presidents would be formed as a new entity which would be organized by the BOG and remain under its purview. It would exist for the sole purpose of electing the student representative on the BOG from among all 11 of the state university student body presidents.
The BOG was created in 2002 following the abolition of the Board of Regents in 2001, and consists of 17 members. The FSA, originally coined the Florida Student Lobby in 1975, is a private organization that is open to membership by the student body presidents from the 11 state public universities. From time to time, the FSA requires universities’ student governments to pay dues using student fees.
Some student governments have decided that spending student fees in order to gain membership in the FSA is not a good expenditure. In these cases, some student body presidents were therefore excluded from consideration to be the student representative on the BOG. The proposed changes in Number 12 go beyond these limitations of membership and establish a system that brings forth the diverse views and needs of students attending all of the state’s public universities.
These changes will be mutually beneficial for the BOG and FSA in addition to students at all state universities. Student body presidents would not be excluded from sitting on the BOG purely because they do not wish to be a part of a private lobbying organization. The process dictated in this legislation allows every student to have a say in their representative on the BOG.
The decision on which university student sits on the BOG should be a fair and equitable process and Constitutional Amendment Ballot Number 12 ensures that to be the case.
As it stands, all FL universities do not have an equal chance to have their student body president chosen as the representative to the Board of Governors. I will be voting YES to ensure my university has a fair shot.
Need to vote yes on this one so every college will be better represented. Colleges that don’t pay FSA dues are discriminated against. Their Student Body President CANNOT be considered for the Board of Governors for that.
At this point I feel “change” is not what we need. Keep as is.