In a unanimous vote, the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees passed a resolution Thursday asking the N.C. General Assembly to adopt legislation allowing the president of the UNC Association of Student Governments a vote on the UNC-system Board of Governors.
Student Body President Brad Matthews, a voting member of UNC-CH's BOT, proposed the student vote at last week's meeting.
"(The vote) will give a stronger sense of legitimacy to the student voice on the Board of Governors," Matthews said.
"It's important for the Board (of Trustees) to voice its formal support."
BOT member Richard Williams said he thinks a student vote on the BOG is a reasonable request and added that it would be just another vote on a board that already has 32 voting members.
"It's just one vote," he said, half-jokingly. "It won't destroy the Board of Governors."
BOG member Angela Bryant said she is not surprised by the proposal and is in support of a student vote.
"Our goal is educating students," she said. "Clearly, having a students' representative with a vote is appreciated."
Bryant said that if the power of the vote is given to students, the ASG president will have more leverage when it comes to critical issues the BOG might face.
