RUSA President Justin Schulberg, Board of Governors Student Representative Anish Patel, and RUSA Vice President Evan Covello stand behind Senator Bob Smith (D-17) as he signs a letter seeking co-primary sponsorship of the Senate bill. (Image: Justin Schulberg)

After lobbying efforts by members of the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA), a committee hearing will be scheduled to move forward legislation to give a student representative voting rights on Rutgers University’s chief governing body.

“Other students from Rutgers in previous years have come and met with us, some have advocated for the bill but this is probably the strongest push to date that we’ve seen from the Rutgers students and their representatives in terms of moving the bill,” said Tom Lynch, chief of staff for New Jersey State Senator Patrick Diegnan (D-18), who has been the primary sponsor of the legislation since 2005, when it was first introduced.

Currently, the student representative to the university’s highest administrative body cannot vote on any business before the board.

“It would bring some sort of realism to the Board of Governors since none of them are in college or have been in college for a couple of decades,” said RUSA President Justin Schulberg.

The voting members of the board have not attended college or university as undergraduate students in at least 29 years.

Schulberg, along with RUSA Vice President Evan Covello and Student Representative to the Board of Governors Anish Patel, feel that the board is out of touch with what students care about.

“It could be anything from the [the new contract with Coca Cola] to building new academic buildings. Students know which academic buildings they need. The administrators who are never in these academic buildings don’t necessarily know,” Schulberg said.

“Its asking for a seat at the table for students; a way for students to be involved in the process and really start helping solve some of the problems that we face as students,” said Patel.

Schulberg, Patel, and Covello have been visiting legislators around the state, asking them to co-sponsor the legislation or support the effort to pass it in both the Assembly (as bill A2134) and Senate (as bill S2249).