Passage of this bill will clarify in state code the General Assembly's authoritative confirmation power and improve the calendar for appointments to serve on the boards of higher education institutions. It also will help to remove partisanship and political interest from these boards decision making, requiring that their duty be to the mission of the institution and to the public good.

I am strongly in support of workers and students having a voting member on their university Boards of Visitors. Boards regularly make decisions that impact affordability and the educational experience for students. For example, at Virginia Tech, where I work, recent BoV decisions have ended projects to build more housing for students (a primary concern for Blacksburg) and raised fees. It's only right that they should have a say in how the university runs.