The heads of Penn State's three student government organizations delivered a proposal to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office last week. It asked that Spanier's budget task force include student representation.

The task force decides how money is allocated for the students. The plan to add students to the task force has been introduced to different members of the force with no result. Let's hope that President Spanier seriously considers this proposal. This can only improve the budgeting process of the university.

Though Spanier's advisors are very knowledgeable about the budget, they do not have a direct connection to the student body. They do not always know what students want. Placing students on the task force will make sure that everyone there will recognize their wishes.

The subsequent budgets can be seen with more validity because the students had an opportunity to put forth their views and opinions in the whole process through representation. Having a position on the task force is a huge responsibility.

The proposal said the elected presidents of student government would select a representative, who probably will have knowledge about the budget process, to be on the task force. This is a great way to select the representative.

Graduate students have many interests, but they do not have the sheer number like the undergraduates. It is easy to ignore the Commonwealth Campuses, but the majority of students at University Park come from them, and they should be included. This process still leaves accountability on the elected officials, and the interests on all Penn State students can be aggregated.

Placing a student on the budget committee is the first step to moving in a direction of shared governance. That term is thrown around quite often, but nothing ever seems to get done to make it reality. Students feel locked out from many of the decisions that affect their lives on this campus, and giving the students a voice on the committees that dictate much of what goes on at Penn State can ease that feeling.

Having administrators and students sitting at the same table and developing comprehensive ideas that best satisfy the wishes of both sides is the way things should be moving. The administration says it is responsive to the needs of the students, and to prove it, they must show it.