It’s all about the vote.

Governor Matt Blunt’s veto of last spring’s student curator legislation concentrated specifically on Board members at the University of Missouri.

However, it raised the issue of whether or not votes were in the future for other university student board members.

Student Senate President Ben Hinkle currently represents the student body on the Board, though he has not been appointed by the governor. He believes that student representatives should be given their say with a formal vote.

“The obvious reason is we pay the bills … we’re representatives supposed to be appointed by the Governor,” he said.

However, current members of the Board have some trepidation about considering student voting.

Board Chairman Dwight Douglas believes a student vote could lead to a slipery slope of others, including faculty and staff, wanting a voting member on the board.

“I am totally in favor of having a student rep. on the board … I have reservations about a vote,” Douglas said.

Other members like Rod Anderson of Monett believe the issue is more complicated than just giving a student the right to vote.

“There is a question there of whether they’d have voting rights for open meetings or closed meetings,” Anderson said. “I have some hesitation about that.”

However, Anderson, a Southern graduate, believes the current student Board member serves a valuable purpose.

“Back in the early 70s we didn’t even have a representative,” he said.

Though Hinkle has not yet been officially appointed to the Board, he said he plans to serve and represent the interest of the students.

“I think students have their finger on the pulse of the campus,” he said.

“I’m not a voter, so I can’t rubber stamp anything, my feeling is that I’m there to represent the student body. There are some things that the students are going to agree with, and I’ll say that, and there are going to be some things that they don’t. And I’m going to say that too.”