Sen. Tipping introduces bill to allow student representation on UMaine Board of Trustees

AUGUSTA —On Monday, Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono, introduced legislation to expand student representation on University of Maine System Board of Trustees, at a public hearing before the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on Monday. LD 1656, “An Act to Allow Student Representation Within the Governance of the University of Maine System,” would allow students to have voting power on the University of Maine System Board of Trustees.

“If we want educated young people to stay in Maine, we need to make sure they feel connected to their state and invested in its future. That starts with making sure they have a voice on campus,” said Sen. Tipping. “Almost all New England public university systems have at least some elected representation of students and alumni. Maine and Rhode Island are the only systems with no elected student representation at all. This proposal would not necessarily represent a significant departure in university system policy. Students would have a minority voting share and, like all trustees, they would be expected to place the interests of the university system as a whole ahead of any personal agendas.”

LD 1656 would replace the current student member of the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, who is appointed by the Governor, with 10 student representatives elected to the board by their student bodies or elected by their student governments. These students would represent all of the different campuses in the University of Maine System, and would serve with full voting members, with the same rights as appointed members but with a two-year term.

Lucca Hamina, a student representing the University of Maine in Orono, testified in support of this legislation.

“I transferred to the University of Maine Orono back in 2021, and when I did I was met with a campus with a nice-looking exterior and complaints by students on the interior,” said Hamina. “Roads with consistent potholes, people slipping on frozen and salted sidewalks, and exit signs hanging from the ceilings of dorms with their wires exposed. All of these things are not secrets that were kept away in remote corners of the campus, they are a common complaint by much of the student body, and yet little is done about them, and the University does very little to communicate with their student body about these issues and even if they are aware of them. Having a student voice that is intimately aware of what it’s like to live on campus will make sure that awareness is kept in conversations about how the University runs so that these issues can be addressed sooner and with more on-the-ground information.”

The bill awaits further action in committee.