{"id":958,"date":"2022-01-13T21:36:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T21:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=958"},"modified":"2023-04-05T22:58:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T22:58:02","slug":"fledgling-trustee","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/fledgling-trustee\/","title":{"rendered":"Fledgling Trustee"},"content":{"rendered":"
Auriana Mitchell brings a youthful perspective to Eastern\u2019s 130-year-old governing body.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

Beginning in the 1970s, the nation\u2019s higher education governing boards gradually began to acknowledge that student voices deserved a place at the table. Though the state of Washington was a little late to the game, for just over two decades its regional university boards \u2014 among them Eastern\u2019s Board of Trustees \u2014 have welcomed a student representative, approved by the governor, to \u201cbring a student voice and perspective\u201d to universities\u2019 governing panels. This years\u2019 EWU Board of Trustees student representative is Auriana Mitchell, a 19-year-old Cheney resident who, thanks to her participation in EWU\u2019s Running Start program, is already nearing completion of a Bachelor of Science degree in data analytics. Her answers have been edited to fit this space.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on the minds of your fellow Eastern students?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Auriana Mitchell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every single person that you ask would probably have a different, if maybe similar, response to that. I personally have spent a lot of time trying to understand who we are as Eastern, academically speaking. One of the really important things for me as a student trustee is advocating for the programs that we students want and need; not only those programs that benefit us today, but also those that will help us be successful in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are you confident that we\u2019re headed in the right direction?<\/b><\/p>\n

After we made some program cuts last year, I had some concerns. But one of the things that Dr. May [Eastern\u2019s interim President David May] is keen on is not only evaluating program offerings based on fiscal measures, but also what makes the most sense for us students. So that\u2019s something I\u2019ve really gotten on board with, and tried to learn more about.<\/p>\n

How do you see yourself interacting with your fellow trustees?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The public meetings are pretty structured\u2026 I do get involved in conversations, but I generally try to keep my comments to either, \u201cHow is this helping students?\u201d or \u201cAre we keeping students at the center of this?\u201d As far as less formal interactions, there is a little bit of an age gap between me and the other trustees, so it\u2019s not like we\u2019re going to the bars together or anything. I do have their cell phone numbers.<\/p>\n

What about your communications with campus groups, particularly those advocating for underrepresented students?<\/b><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s my job to seek [underrepresented] students out to make sure they are getting what they need. It\u2019s really about talking to people, hearing what they\u2019re involved in and saying, \u201cHey, that\u2019s really cool. Can I come to your next meeting?\u201d Seriously, I don\u2019t want anyone on campus to see me as someone who they can\u2019t approach. This will be my fourth year here; I\u2019ve had three on-campus jobs. I know this place. I love this place. Just generally being part of the family here is the best thing I can do, because then I can be sure I know what\u2019s going on, and can be plugged in with everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Auriana Mitchell brings a youthful perspective to Eastern\u2019s 130-year-old governing body.\u00a0 Beginning in the 1970s, the nation\u2019s higher education governing boards gradually began to acknowledge that student voices deserved a place at the table. Though the state of Washington was a little late to the game, for just over two decades its regional university boards…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":966,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-958","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-campus","stories_categories-students","stories_tags-fall-winter-2021"],"acf":{"featured_video":"","subheading":"","display_byline":false,"display_date_published":false,"Links":false,"Resources":false,"featured_image_format":"cover","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1783,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/958\/revisions\/1783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}