CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed has established, and assigned membership to, a new advisory committee in continued efforts to make student participation a priority in the development of university policies.

The Advisory Committee on Student Participation in Policy Development includes three CSU presidents, two vice presidents, and five student representatives from various campuses throughout the state. Representatives for Sacramento State include PresidentDonald Gerth and California State Student Association Chairman Shaun Lumachi.

In a statement released from the Chancellor?s office, Lumachi said he was excited that the concept of increased student involvement had been positively received.

“I strongly believe that this committee will develop a plan to ensure that student input is included when new policies are developed,” Spence said.

David Spence, CSU executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer who will chair the new committee, said in the release that addressing the role of students in policy making is an important issue.

“There is nothing more important than effectively serving the needs of our students, and soliciting their input is an invaluable part of that,” Spence said.

The Board of Trustees? Cornerstones Report addressed the issue of student responsibility with a call for “students to demonstrate a greater involvement in academic program development and assessment,” which acted as rationale in the proposal presented recently by the CSSA.

“The idea was to look into how students could best participate in the process,” said Ken Swisher, spokesman for the Chancellor?s office. “And the Chancellor has been very supportive of student input.”

Currently, Lumachi and the other appointees of the new committee are in consultation to work out the parameters of their proposal before sending it to the Executive Council of CSU presidents on Feb. 12.

The proposal, Shared Responsibility, developed by the CSSA Board of Directors, “will help formalize the role that ASI plays in the representation of students within the CSU system,” Lumachi said.

“There have been several incidents where the student government felt they did not have a role in the decision-making process,” he said.

The proposal states that “students shall be provided an opportunity to participate and impact the development of university policies and procedures that have or will have an effect on current and future students. This right includes the opportunity to participate in developing recommendations to the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, and the campus presidents regarding such policies and procedures.”

In addition, the proposal asks that the Board of Trustees “recognize each associated student body organization” for opinions and recommendations. These recommendations would cover, among others, admissions criteria, grading policies, codes of student conduct, disciplinary policies, student fees and financial aid.

Once the proposal is reviewed and approved by the Executive Council, the committee will move to have Chancellor Reed and the Board of Trustees implement the proposal in March.