Shepherd University’s Student Government Association has issued an official response to West Virginia House Bill 3279. The bill reduces faculty, staff and student representatives to nonvoting members of their respective schools’ governing board, among other changes.
SGA Vice President Logan Morgan, with assistance from Tyler Furbee, SGA president and BOG student representative, wrote a proposal to Delegate Bill Ridenour and Sen. Patricia Rucker on behalf of the Shepherd University student body. The proposal urges lawmakers to “propose legislation to the West Virginia Legislature that gives the student body their voice back.”
The Shepherd University Board of Governors controls everything from meal plans to academic prioritization to constructing and financing the new multipurpose building. “Every little thing on campus is affected by the board,” Furbee explained.
According to its website, the BOG oversees all financial and educational policies and affairs of the university, prepares the annual budget request for the university and appoints the president, among other duties.
Without the ability to vote, faculty, staff and student representatives no longer have a guaranteed say in these matters.
“It is absolutely important,” said BOG faculty representative Heidi Hanrahan, Ph.D., when asked about her thoughts on the right to vote. “If it weren’t, they wouldn’t have taken it from us.”
Voting isn’t the only authority lost with this bill. Representatives can no longer make or second motions during board meetings.
“There was a moment in the most recent meeting that struck me as a sad encapsulation of where we are,” Hanrahan said. “Tyler Furbee seconded a motion on something very straightforward. Turns out, he can’t even do that, so we had to backtrack and vote again.”
The reasoning behind the bill is convoluted and never explicitly explained in detail — on record. Sen. Mike Woelful, who voted against it, said its motivation stemmed from an unrelated personnel issue, remarking, “Somebody applied for a job. They didn’t get the job.”
It is speculated Woelful was referring to House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, one of three finalists for the West Virginia University president position.
Delegate Joe Funkhouser, who represents WV House of Delegates District 98, in Jefferson County, was outspoken in his support for the bill, claiming that voting rights for faculty, staff and students present a conflict of interest.
Sen. Patricia Rucker, who represents Senate District 16, in Jefferson County, also expressed her support for the bill, citing the fact that it aligns West Virginia University with other Big 12 Conference schools that deny faculty, staff and students the ability to vote.
Neither of these explanations justified revoking the right to vote from the only three BOG members directly affected by these decisions, according to former SGA President Paul Teter, who served as the student representative on the BOG from 2023 to 2025. “I don’t see how there’s a conflict of interest when we are the ones who are here nearly every day,” he explained.
While the bill was in the legislative process, Teter contacted all the state legislators in the Eastern Panhandle, including the four state senators who represent the region. He explained how the bill would negatively impact Shepherd University, but he was ultimately ignored by most of those he contacted.
Teter expressed his disappointment with the state legislators who ignored him. “In the House of Delegates, it passed, with nearly two-thirds in favor, but in the state senate, it was really close,” he said.
Had three of the four senators Teter reached out to voted against it, the bill wouldn’t have passed.
According to both Furbee and Teter, Shepherd’s current Board of Governors has expressed nothing but support for the student body and their concerns, providing reassurance that they will continue to record the faculty, staff and student representative’s vote on the meeting minutes, although the votes no longer count.
“Right now, our BOG Chair, Dr. Jim Cherry, and Vice-Chair, Mr. Austin Slater, are committed to listening to our voices and doing their best to make sure the board takes them into consideration,” Hanrahan said. “But they won’t always be in charge. That’s why the vote matters! American history has taught us how important the vote is in part because we cannot always rely on others to take care of us, advocate for us and speak for us.”
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