Human rights activist and Cal State University Chico student, Jillian Ruddell, has been selected as the single student trustee to be a part of the selection process for the next CSU chancellor.
Ruddell is part of the eight-member special committee that will meet 10 a.m. to noon Thursday in the CSU Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach to receive input from CSU stakeholders and the public as the committee begins the search for a new chancellor.
She is serving her second year in her two-year term as a student trustee, which gives her the power to vote on CSU issues.
“We, by statute, have two student trustees on the board,” CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said. “In the first year, they are still a trustee and they engage in conversation … but do not vote. In the second year, they gain the power to vote.”
Student government is not foreign to Ruddell. She has been involved in student government since high school, where she served as vice president of her class.
“When I came to Chico State, it was second nature to become involved,” she said.
All students who apply to join the Board go through a rigorous process, Fallis said. According to Miles Nevin, executive director of the California State Student Association, prospective students initially apply for the position, are reviewed by the Board, interviewed by a student panel and finally are evaluated and interviewed by the state governor.
“[Ruddell] stood out,” Nevin said. “She proves that she can be a good representative for students. She articulates what issues are important.”
After becoming involved in the Board, Ruddell found a new passion for higher education. As part of her position, she focuses on issues such as student accessibility and affordability of higher education.
“Equality and equity is important … everyone should have an equal opportunity for higher education,” she said.
Aside from being a part of student government, Ruddell involves herself in women and minority rights activism. She has served as the director of the Associated Students Women’s Center and has been a committee member for Conversations on Diversity at CSUC.
“It shows she has a genuine interest in those issues,” Nevin said. “She understands our student population.”
Jaime Sandoval, a senior math major at Cal State Long Beach, said he likes that a student will be involved in the chancellor selection process.
“I think it’s good because the student has a voice,” he said. “It would be down to earth, to our level.”
However, other students believe that one student vote might not make much of a difference when only one of the eight trustees is a student.
“It depends on how much involvement they allow from the student,” senior English literature major Trevor Kosareff said. “It goes a lot deeper … it is more of a political stunt to pacify the student qualm.”
Regardless of student doubts, Ruddell said she looks forward to participating in the upcoming process.
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful that there is a student representative and that that student is me,” she said. “I understand the concern with one student vote on the committee. We all have our voice … I share my opinion and the greater opinion of the population.”
Ruddell is triple majoring in multicultural studies, gender/women’s studies and political science, as well as minoring in sexual diversity and sociology. Once she graduates, she hopes to pursue a doctorate and become a professor in sociology, human studies or gender studies.
She said she will continue to support higher education by practicing higher education advocacy in her career.
Chancellor Charles B. Reed retired from his 14-year tenure on May 24. The eight-member Special Committee for the Selection of the Chancellor includes Ruddell, Bill Hauck, Roberta Achtenberg, Bernadette Cheyne (faculty), Debra Farar, Kenneth Fong, Steven Glazer and board chair Bob Linscheid (alumnus).