Students press for a nonvoting student seat on Kansas Board of Regents; student advisory council not unanimous

Student leaders told the Committee on Higher Education Budget they want a standing student presence on the Kansas Board of Regents to improve student access to the system's decisionmakers.

"What we're asking for is an ex officio non‑voting seat to allow students the voice constantly on the board," Danae Estebine, student vice president at the University of Kansas, said during testimony. Estebine told legislators that the Student Advisory Council (SAC), which brings together student body presidents from KBOR institutions, meets the regents only once per year and lacks the regular access she said students need to influence policy.

Not all student representatives supported adding a student regent. Ella Burrows, who identified herself as a member of SAC, clarified to the committee that "the entirety of the Student Advisory Council is not in support of the addition of a student regent." Burrows said the council supports increased availability and more time with the regents, but the group voted against adding a student regent as a council change.

Why it matters: proponents said a student seat would make student perspectives more consistently available during board deliberations; opponents warned that SAC did not back the proposal and that students disagree about the best mechanism for input. Committee members asked students for more detail and documentation; Estebine said she provided research and example regent practices from other states in a packet distributed to lawmakers.

No formal change to KBOR membership was proposed or adopted at the hearing; the testimony is part of an ongoing conversation about student representation and regents' engagement with campus leaders.