The state’s leading student organization is drafting a letter questioning Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s appointment procedure after he spurned their nominees for an important state agency position.

This summer the governor appointed Winona State University senior Tyler Despins to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities board of trustees.

The 15-member board has policy responsibility for system planning, academic programs, fiscal management, personnel, admissions requirements, tuition and fees, and rules and regulations.

Three of the board members must be students at a MnSCU school.

Two different student groups, the Minnesota State University Student Association and the Minnesota State College Student Association, represent over 235,000 students on MnSCU’s technical, college and university campuses.

MSUSA represents the majority of students, nearly 140,000, at the seven universities in the system.

During their September conference, held at Winona State University, the presidential board of directors, comprised of the senate presidents from the seven universities voted 3 to1, with three abstentions, to take an official position on the governor’s choice of Despins.

“MSUSA is the recognized voice for four-year schools,” Minnesota State University - Mankato senate president Rhys Gaffer said. “You don’t just thumb your nose at a recognized organization.”

Gaffer and two other senate presidents questioned Despins’ motivation in applying independently for the position after being passed-over for recommendation by MSUSA.

Some student leaders were concerned about Despins’ previous performance and his commitment to the four-year universities that he represented.

“My first responsibility is to the people of the state because they pay the taxes,” Despins said.

This philosophy ran contrary to what many at MSUSA thought was the role of the student organization to represent students.

“By doing what he did, Tyler knew he was taking it from a procedural issue to a political issue,” St. Cloud State University senate president Cory Lawrence said.

Lawrence and Gaffer made the motion at the fall conference to draft the letter to the governor asking for a written account of his decision making process.

Minnesota statute states both student groups are responsible for developing the process by which they recruit, screen and recommend qualified candidates for the three student positions on the board.

Along with the MnSCU candidate advisory council, the student groups must jointly develop a statement of the selection criteria and are then allowed to recommend from two to four candidates for the position.

The governor is not obligated to follow the recommendations.

Despins’ appointment is one of over 1,200 the governor will make in a four-year term.

According to Gaffer this is only the second time in MSUSA’s 35-year history that the governor has not chosen one of their nominees.

The governor’s appointment coordinator John Berns said one of the reasons Despins was chosen was because he was the only undergraduate.

MSUSA’s two nominees, Linda Palmer of Metropolitan State and Becky Rothmeier of St. Cloud State are both graduate students.

State statutes do not specify that student board members be undergraduates.

“The students specifically did not recommend (Despins),” Rothmeier said. “He applied but they said no.”