Student Regents might once again get a vote on the board, but no one’s holding their breath.

Wednesday, a bill allowing one collective vote for five student Regents in the Board of Governors passed unanimously in a higher education committee.

Student Regents in NIU’s governing board could be added to the bill through an amendment this week by Rep. Lee Preston (D-Chicago), the bill’s sponsor. He sponsored the bill after being approached by students at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

“It (the bill) will force the governing boards (BOR, BOG) to be more cognizant of what students at the universities want. They are the ones who are the consumers,” Preston said.

The BOG governs Chicago State University in Chicago, Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Governors State University in University Park, Northeastern in Chicago and Western Illinois University in Macomb.

But a student Regent vote has been attempted in NIU’s past and never accepted by the board.

Regents Legislative Liaison Phil Adams said NIU’s governing board is against student Regents getting a vote. “We would be opposed to (the amendment) for the same reason we’ve been opposed in the past 12 years,” he said.

Adams brought up three reasons why student Regents should not get a collective vote: a student Regent’s term is too short, a conflict of interests and the mechanics behind the vote.

Student Regents usually work for only one-year terms, which is about eight or nine meetings, compared to a board member’s six-year term, which Adams said doesn’t allow the student to gain enough expertise.

But NIU Student Regent Jim Mertes said “every decision he makes is an informed decision. If I don’t have enough information it’s (Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves’) staff’s fault.”

Preston said, “Students are of voting age. They are the ones directly affected, and they bring a certain expertise” to the governing boards.

Adams also said student Regents have a conflict of interest where issues of tuition and fees are concerned.

“I don’t see any conflict of interest. If there is a conflict of interest in the student Regents seeing what’s best for students, then it is an acceptable conflict of interest,” Mertes said.

The one problem all seem to agree on is how the student Regents would go about voting. It’s still up in the air.

Will the Regents have to stop the meeting while the student Regents leave the room to meet? What happens when the student Regents disagree?

These questions were problems that Adams felt needed to be addressed.

Preston and Mertes agreed the voting process needs some ironing out, but said the amendment would be a step in the right direction.

Preston said this is a logical procession, from students being on the board, to acting in an advisory capacity to getting a vote. “The student perspective is very important,” he said.

Mertes said he hopes this is the next step toward getting individual votes for student Regents.