Maggie White (senior, Communication Studies, Economics) has recently been appointed a student trustee on the California State University Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees oversees all of the CSUs.
According to calstate.edu, “The Board adopts rules, regulations and policy governing the California State University. The board has authority over curricular development, use of property, development of facilities and fiscal and human resource management.”
White’s involvement is Associated Student Incorporated (ASI) and her background as a Communication Studies major has prepared her well for this position.
“As a Communication Studies major and someone who is really passionate about education and equality, I feel like I’ve unknowingly been preparing for this role for a long time.” White said, “I was a member of the ASI Government Leadership Council last year, and that was really instrumental in my development as a student advocate. Because of that involvement, I was able to attend the California Higher Education Student Summit in March and Academic Senate Advocacy day in April. I had the chance to interact with senators and members of the Assembly, and I lobbied with my fellow CSU students and faculty members for a 97 million dollar budget. And we ended up getting up.”
White wants to show students she will work towards tangible results.
“I want to be as accessible and efficient as possible. When students come to me with issues, I want to show them I can get real results by working together. A lot of people get discouraged when they put effort into something and there’s no immediate progress, especially when there are a lot of hoops to jump through. I want to show students that passion and dedication can lead to tangible improvements in our own lives and communities,” said White.
White envisions herself being a visible presence at all the CSU campuses.
“As student trustee, my biggest responsibility is to represent the 467,000 students of our university system. My way of doing this is to visit every campus, traveling at least one or two weeks out of each month, to make myself available to our students from Humboldt to San Diego and everywhere in between. My goal is for the majority of students on each campus to know who I am, what I do and how to contact me,” said White.
White had a message for the student body on how they and White can work together.
“My job is literally to represent you, so please don’t hesitate to walk over and talk to me if you happen to see me between classes or in the Grill, chat with me on Facebook or even meet with me for coffee to discuss the issues you care about. I want to hear your perspective on things, and no issue is too small. If you’re like me and want to leave this school even better than you found it, let’s work together to make that happen,” said White.