In June, a new ASPSU governing body took office. This is not unusual;

elected student executive leaders are term-limited and cannot seek multiple terms in the same position. Because of this restriction, the incoming student government must establish a rapport with the university president, and vice-versa, every year. Usually, the relationship begins well, but occasionally the process gets off to a rough start. Such was the case with current ASPSU President Jonathan Sanford and University President Wim Wiewel.

The source of disagreement is a shared-governance policy, enacted in 2005. According to the policy, known as the Shared Governance of Students Agreement, the “students of Portland State University possess the right of decision-making powers in the formulation and implementation of the university's policies and procedures.” At the heart of the issue is a philosophical disagreement concerning interpretation of the Shared Governance Agreement and the extent student government and university administrators must work with one another.

When ASPSU President Jonathan Sanford first met with Dr. Wiewel at the beginning of Sanford’s term the two discussed shared governance. “There were three points that ASPSU and Dr. Wiewel’s office need to work together on to be successful,” Sanford said. “First, ASPSU needs the same information the administration is basing their decisions on, so independent judgments can be made in order to be successful. An open line of communication needs to be constant so we know what’s going on in both sides; it’s policy almost every place in Oregon. Lastly we need invitations to events that university administrators are speaking on behalf of the university so that we can be ready.” When Sanford explained these points to Dr. Wiewel, Sanford says the university president stated that he doesn’t believe student government represents all students and that student government is essentially a student group.

“The exact nature of shared governance is not a rigid model,” Wiewel said. “You have to re-establish every year what it means. A new student government has to figure out how it works.” According to Wiewel, the university administration consults students on a wide variety of issues as a matter of course.

The agreement was negotiated in 2005 between then-ASPSU President Christy Harper and University President Daniel Bernstein. The agreement was meant to ensure that students, through their representatives in the ASPSU, have a say in substantive policies that affect the student body. This includes but is not limited to policies affecting grading; new or discontinued academic course offerings; student code of conduct; tuition and fees; third party contracts (such as vendor contracts); and curriculum development. The agreement came the way most reform legislation comes – to address concerns about the role of the agency in question (the ASPSU) and its role with the University administrators.

Complicating the issue is the status of ASPSU as a state-defined and mandated governing body. “Oregon is unique in the formal role that it gives to student government,” President Wiewel said. “Nowhere else is it described so clearly.” ASPSU, and its sister organizations at public universities statewide, have specific guidelines and limitations on their governance, which the Shared Governance Agreement works to clarify.

The agreement implies a clear line of communication between both the ASPSU and the office of President Wiewel. President Wiewel describes the state of communication between his office and ASPSU as fine. “I meet with Jonathan Sanford regularly,” Wiewel said. “I have met with the Student Fee Committee as well.”

Sanford has stated that he expects a representative from ASPSU to be present at university executive meetings, and would be willing to extend the same conditions for inclusion of a representative from the university administration in ASPSU executive meetings. “We have access to high levels of governance,” Sanford said. “We don’t have any kind of equal opportunity or influence. There needs to be set minimum standards for student and administrators at all levels governance. It’s not just a take relationship.”

According to Wiewel, the lack of communication and influence is between the student body and the ASPSU. “When you have a (voter) turnout of less than 1000 people, something isn't working,” Wiewel said. Even keeping Portland State's commuter school status in mind, the university and its student government face serious challenges. “ASPSU has a daunting task,” Wiewel said. “It's hard to be a governing body for a diverse and large campus.”