Whether you are returning to campus for your second semester or for your last semester, welcome back!

I am the senior student-elected trustee on Cornell University’s Board of Trustees. Two of the 64 trustees on the Board are students elected by the undergraduate and graduate student body to serve two-year, staggered terms. Cornell is the only Ivy League institution with students who serve as voting members of the University’s highest governing body.

To ensure that both undergraduate and graduate students have a voice on the Board, the Student Assembly and the Graduate Professional Student Assembly approved a resolution in 2006 specifying that an undergraduate student would be elected to the Board in odd-numbered years and that a graduate student would be elected in even-numbered years. The resolution effectively guarantees that one student on the Board has firsthand experience as an undergraduate student at Cornell and that one student has firsthand experience as a graduate student at Cornell.

In 2007, I was elected to the Board to serve a term from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2009, and the following year, graduate student Mike Walsh was elected to serve a term from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2010. This spring, the student body will elect another undergraduate to serve a term from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011.

Trustees are responsible for shaping the University and for developing long-term policies. To fulfill these responsibilities, the Board convenes four times every year for at least three days of meetings, presentations and events. In January, the Board meets in New York City at Weill Cornell Medical College; in March, May and October, the Board meets in Ithaca.

This year, I serve on six of the 11 committees of the Board: Student Life, Finance, Buildings and Properties, Academic Affairs, Alumni Affairs and Development and Trustee-Community Communications. While the student-elected trustees are encouraged to voice student concerns during any meeting as appropriate, the Student Life Committee is the primary forum to convey these concerns to Board members. This committee addresses topics that affect students on a daily basis: residential life, athletics, Greek life and extracurricular activities, just to name a few. Mike and I meet with Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy ’73, Dean of Students Kent Hubbell ’69, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Michele Moody-Adams and the trustee chairs of the committee to set the agenda for meetings of the Student Life Committee. Additionally, Mike and I alternate giving brief presentations to the committee at each meeting.

The student-elected Trustees are also responsible for acting as liaisons between the student body and the administration. Both of the student-elected trustees are ex-officio members of the Student Assembly, the Graduate Professional Student Assembly and the University Assembly. We serve on ad-hoc committees. We communicate with student leaders and administrators, and we strive to keep students informed of pertinent issues, most notably through this column.

Serving as a trustee is challenging and rewarding. The trustees are sincere in their desire to hear and understand students’ perspectives. My experience on the Board has provided me with the opportunity to voice student concerns, propose changes and promote new policies. I have initiated discussions with trustees and administrators on topics ranging from course evaluations to Collegetown, from median grades to mental health. I have advocated for expanding financial aid, for preserving and improving the Greek system, and for implementing an honor code. I have also served on ad-hoc committees to consider the appropriateness of sanctions for Code of Conduct violations and to discuss the feasibility of creating a sustainable endowment. These varied and diverse experiences illustrate that serving as a student-elected trustee provides many opportunities to become involved in activities that are interesting and important to you.

I encourage every undergraduate to consider running for this position in the upcoming election. Every student has unique experiences at Cornell and different ideas on what would improve student life. The Trustee Nominating Committee, the committee that oversees the election, will determine the dates of the petitioning, campaigning and voting process within the next few weeks. The election calendar and rules will be posted at http://assembly.cornell.edu/TNC/Home. As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the position or the election.

The national elections have ended, but the Cornell elections are just beginning.