During the 2000-2001 academic school year, legislators enacted the Tuition Disclosure Law?a law known more familiarly to students as the Truth in Tuition initiative.

The law was formulated and proposed not by officials in some distant governmental office, but by living, breathing university students who were engaged in a genuine dialogue to improve the experiences of their fellow college students.

This group of students, known as the Utah Intercollegiate Assembly, represents the 120,000 students in Utah’s higher education system. This governing body has the power to affect real higher education change. Thus, the delegates each university sends make all the difference.

In the past, the Associated students of the University of Utah sent individuals who were already participating in student government. This all-too common ASUU nepotism created a homogenous group of representatives from the U.

This year, and rightly so, ASUU is extending the opportunity to those outside the confines of their Union office. The ASUU Government Relations Board is diversifying its delegation by sending student senators throughout its departments in search of applicants.

Though the board’s actions are admirable, the change should have happened earlier.

Additionally, Ben Lowe is doing his part in the effort to adequately represent the student body. Instead of assigning his own cabinet members to university committee positions, Lowe sought out other individuals. Obviously, this takes quite a bit more effort on Lowe’s part, but Lowe took the initiative, and it was worth the work.

Students should demand that this trend continue. We, as students, will look forward to seeing this university’s delegation to the UIA develop into a group of members whose backgrounds, ideas and visions of the future will guide them in their roles as representatives.

The true nature of representation is found not in groups that think identically, but in the gathering of diverse minds. By realizing this, ASUU will be one step closer to fully representing this university’s student body.