Bridging the divide: exploring the connections between student governments and higher education governing boards.

Student members of governing boards, commonly called student trustees, came about during the 1960s due to the student activist movement. These students were originally intended to bridge the gap between students and governing boards. The scant literature exploring student trusteeship has ignored what effect, if any, the presence of these individuals have had on the relationship between student leaders and governing boards. Using data collected from student government presidents at colleges and universities in the United States, the present study explores this subject. Findings suggest student trustees have a mixed to negligible effect on this relationship. Results also show that undergraduate student government presidents perceive a stronger relationship with their governing boards than presidents of graduate or professional student governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]