After months of pressure from student leaders, a member of the State Legislature agreed to pursue a measure to give college students a stronger voice on the Arizona Board of Regents.
Last week, Sen. Linda Gray, D-Phoenix, told student leaders from the three state universities that she would push for the confirmation of a student regent, Ben Graff, to the board of regents.
Graff, a second-year UA law student, was appointed to the board of regents by Gov. Janet Napolitano last May, but has since been waiting for official confirmation from the Senate Higher Education Committee.
If confirmed, Graff would have the opportunity to sit in the board's executive session, a closed meeting in which legal matters are discussed.
Alistair Chapman, student body president, said Graff's confirmation is imperative because Graff's participation in executive session would give students an additional voice when the regents discuss important legal issues.
"Eliminating the opportunity for him to participate in executive session makes his position naïve, essentially limiting his potential to fairly represent students," Chapman wrote in a letter to Gray. "For students, this position represents hope, a chance for our voices to be brought to the board."
Since July, student body presidents from the three state universities have been trying to push forward Graff's confirmation, even asking for a special session of the Arizona State Senate to be called, said Maceo Brown, executive director of the Arizona Students' Association.
Graff said that although he is not confirmed, he has tried to represent students in every capacity for the last seven months at open meetings and discussions.
However, because executive session meetings are private and cannot be legally discussed with the public, Graff said that not knowing certain issues shortsighted him.
"(Voting Student Regent) Wes McCalley can't legally tell me (information), so it doesn't allow for complete communication between the two student regents," Graff said. "The second student regent could bring a different perspective."
Ann Barton, interim executive for the regents, said that after a regent is appointed to the board by the governor, he or she has full regent privileges, excluding participation in executive session, until confirmed by the Senate Higher Education Committee.
From there, the confirmation of the regent will go to the full senate for a vote.
Brown said that because budget discussions were dominating the end of the Legislative session last year, Graff's confirmation was not a priority. In addition, the Senate Education Committee was in the middle of a transition, with the split of the K-12 Committee and the Higher Education Committee.
Gray, chairwoman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said she recently became aware that Graff's confirmation was stalled.
"I'm surprised that it hasn't already been done," Gray said. "If I had known, it would have been on the first agenda this session."
Graff said he is not upset about the delay because he understands many factors contributed to it.
However, it is not unusual for a regent to wait months before their confirmation onto the board of regents, said Regent Christine Palacios, president-elect of the board. Palacios said she waited four to five months before being confirmed.
Still, student leaders are concerned about the situation.
Chapman said that in the future he wants to see the student-regent confirmed shortly after his or her appointment by the governor.
"This is about setting a precedent (for) the future, where we don't have regents sit for six or seven months without the ability to participate in executive session," Chapman said.
For this semester, Graff said he is unsure about which emerging issues he will learn in executive session.
"It is not as much for the issues you predict, but more for the issues you don't predict: highly sensitive issues," Graff said. "You just want to have all the information you can."
Barton said that even though he does not have the ability to vote, the non-voting student regent still has the power to sway other regents' votes.
Graff will be unable to sit in the executive session of the regents meeting in Tempe later this week, but Gray said if all goes as planned, he should be confirmed by the senate in two weeks.
"I'm sure it's an important issue to the students," Gray said. "Now that it has come to my attention that we have to follow through on the process, it will be on the next agenda."
Chapman said he is not worried about the committee denying Graff's confirmation because of his dedication to the student body.
"Ben has a history of representing students," Chapman said on Graff, who has been an Associated Students of the University of Arizona senator, executive vice president and student body president.
"He actively seeks out student concerns - he can stand by his record," Chapman said.