Student Representative Application

The Student Representative to the DBoT exists to represent the general student body. They are responsible for balancing and integrating a wide variety of interests and needs into policies that benefit the common good. Therefore, Student Representatives to the DBoT learn as much as they can about the student body they serve. They gain this knowledge by studying demographic, economic and social trends, by being aware of issues facing the community, and by talking with other community leaders and members of other boards.

They use what they learn to make decisions that respond to community interests, needs and values. Boards discuss multiple viewpoints and issues in public and have strategies to include the public in the policy-making process. Effective trustees and boards: 

• Know community needs and trends 
• Link with the community 
• Seek out and consider multiple perspectives when making policy decisions 
• Debate and discuss issues in public
• Serve the public good 

Boards set the tone for the entire system or institution. Through their behavior and policies, successful boards establish a climate in which learning is valued, professional growth is enhanced, and the most important goals are student success and adding value to the community. Alternatively, boards fail their institutions when they act in such a way that they create a stifling, negative, or dysfunctional atmosphere.

Board of Trustees create a positive climate when they look to the future, act with integrity, support risk taking, and challenge the CEO and college staff to strive for excellence. Effective trustees and boards:

• Model a commitment to learning for students
• Focus on outcomes 
• Support professional growth 
• Seek consultation in developing policy
• Are ethical and act with integrity

Trustees are essential links with their communities. They govern on behalf of the public and ensure that the College meets the needs of external constituents. They are also the advocates and protectors of the College. They promote the college within the community and seek support for the college from local, state, and national policymakers. They support the college foundation in seeking community contributions.

Competent boards protect the College from undue pressure on the institution from political and special interests. They support the professional freedom of administrators and faculty to create quality learning environments that incorporate many different perspectives. They protect the ability of the College to fulfill its mission and promise to their communities. Effective trustees and boards: 

• Promote the College in the community 
• Foster partnerships with other entities in the community 
• Advocate the needs of the College with government officials
• Support the foundation and fundraising efforts
• Protect the College from inappropriate influence

A good Student Representative to the DBoT requires the ability to function as part of a team, and a team functions best when all members are encouraged to contribute their unique strengths and are committed to working together. Effective boards are thoughtful and educated. Trustees on those boards listen well, ask good questions, analyze options, think critically, and clarify their most important values and priorities. They explore issues thoroughly and make policy decisions based on thorough deliberation and comprehensive understanding.

The best boards are future-oriented. They recognize that today’s world requires flexible institutions and personnel who are willing to adapt and grow in response to the changing needs of society.

A Student Representative to the DBoT is one who acts with vision, with intelligence, with curiosity and with enthusiasm to help create a board that is an agent for positive change. Effective boards:

• Engage in ongoing learning about board roles and responsibilities
• Are curious and inclusive
• Are positive and optimistic 
• Support and respect each other

Effective Student Representatives:

• Devote time, thought and study to the duties and responsibilities of a Student Representative to the DBoT, so that they may render effective and creditable service.
• Work with their fellow board members in a spirit of harmony and cooperation despite differences of opinion that may arise during vigorous debates of points of issue. 
• Resist every temptation and outside pressure to use their position as a Student Representative to the DBoT to benefit themselves or any other individual or agency apart from the total interest of the community college district.
• Recognize that it is as important for the board to understand and evaluate the educational program of the community college as it is to plan for the business of college operation.
• Welcome and encourage active cooperation of citizens, organizations, and the media of communication in the district concerning establishing policy on current college operations and proposed future developments.
• Finally, progress step by step toward ideal conditions for the most effective college board service to my community, in a spirit of teamwork and devotion to public education as the greatest instrument for the preservation and the perpetuation of our representative democracy.