APPROVED CHAPTER
JUNE 23, 2023 14
BY GOVERNOR P & S LAW
STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE
_____
S.P. 661 - L.D. 1656
An Act to Allow Student Representation Within the Governance of the
University of Maine System
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. P&SL 1865, c. 532, §4, first ¶, as amended by PL 1985, c. 779, §89, is
further amended to read:
Sec. 4. Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees of the University of Maine
System shall consist consists of 16 17 members.
Sec. 2. P&SL 1865, c. 532, §4, sub-§3, as repealed and replaced by PL 1987, c.
735, §73, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:
3. Student members. By July 1, 2024, 2 of the members appointed by the Governor
and subject to review by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction
over education matters and confirmation by the Legislature must be full-time matriculated
students in good standing of the University of Maine System. One student member must
be an undergraduate student and one student member must be a graduate student or a
student at the University of Maine School of Law.
The Governor shall appoint the undergraduate student member based on the joint
recommendation of the undergraduate student government associations representing each
of the student bodies at the University of Maine, the University of Maine at Augusta, the
University of Maine at Farmington, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of
Maine at Machias, the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the University of Southern
Maine. The Governor shall appoint the graduate student member based on the joint
recommendation of the graduate student government associations representing each of the
graduate student bodies at the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine and
the University of Maine School of Law. The 2 student members may not be from the same
institution and for each student seat, except for the initial appointments, the student member
must be enrolled at a different institution than the student's immediate predecessor. If the
student government associations do not make a unanimous joint recommendation, the
Governor shall appoint the student members from the student bodies at the Governor's
discretion and rotate the appointment between the institutions.
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A student member is a full voting member of the board of trustees and serves a 2-year term
until a successor is appointed, except in the event of a student member no longer being a
student at the University of Maine System, at which point the seat is vacated until a
successor is appointed.
The board of trustees shall adopt a policy to carry out this subsection. The board of trustees
must incorporate input from the student members into the policy and provide the policy to
the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters
by November 6, 2024.
Sec. 3. Application. That section of this Act that repeals and replaces Private and
Special Law 1865, chapter 532, section 4, subsection 3 does not apply to any student
member serving on the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System at the time of
the effective date of this Act.
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