Name: Renee Rathjen
Year in School: Junior
Candidate for the Position of: Student Representative to the Board of Trustees
My name is Renee Rathjen, and I am seeking to represent the interests of UIS students in the position of Student Representative to the University of Illinois (U-I) Board of Trustees. I have been involved in SGA since Fall 2005, serving as a student representative on the Diversity, Equal Rights, Opportunity and Access Committee. I currently serve as the SGA Vice-President.
After years of governance experience at the UIS level I feel that I can best serve the interests of UIS students at the U-I level. Through my involvement on Campus Senate and keeping up-to-date on the actions of the Board of Trustees over the past few years I have developed an understanding of the operations of the U-I system and the unique needs of UIS within the system.
Most importantly I understand, as a student, the impact of the rising costs of higher education and would like to use my student voice to impact the ways in which revenues are collected for the U-I system. I would use my student voice to talk about the impact of creating hidden costs of higher education, such as the shift of revenue generation from tuition to student fees and assessments.
I would like to explore means to keep UIS students updated on the policy changes happening at the U-I level such as an update on the campus channel after each meeting of the Board of Trustees.
If you have any questions regarding my goals for the upcoming year please contact me via e-mail at rrath2@uis.edu, and be sure to attend the candidates’ forums
