Help wanted

Applications are available for student trustee position

Do you feel like you are just a number?

Do you feel like decisions that affect you (tuition increases, the student activity fee, mergers with large health centers and law schools) are being made without your input?

If you do, you may be a prime candidate for the student trustee spot on the University Board of Trustees.

In the past, the student trustee has given input on campus issues such as general education and sat on the search committee that chose Graham Spanier to be University president.

The student trustee is the only student who can sit on the highest administrative body at the University -- and get a roaming parking permit that allows him or her to legally park anywhere on campus.

But the student trustee has to remember that he or she is the only voice on the board that represents students. It is important to make sure that voice is loud and clear.

The student trustee can be the driving force in getting the trustees to support students on issues like borough housing. The student trustee can urge the University to get a move on problems such as student-faculty ratios.

Students from all Commonwealth Campuses are also welcome to apply. Students from those campuses could discuss the lack of good counseling and advising services at the campuses and ways to increase their funding.

And adding a little creativity to the job would help, too. Speaking directly to student groups more often or planning an event that gets students and trustees talking could improve student-administrator relations and truly put the words "student" and "trustee" together.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do? Then just go to the HUB information desk and ask for an application for student trustee. It's lengthy, but well worth the effort.

Interested students must provide recommendations and answer six essay questions along with the application. All materials must be returned by 5 p.m. April 14 to the HUB information desk.

If you enjoy wearing suits and ties, hobnobbing with administrators and think that you are in touch with student concerns, you may be just the student for the job.

Or if you like to paint yourself blue, well . . .