Student representative on the SMU Board of Trustees Lamar Dowling is named second runner-up for Homecoming King last fall. (Casey Lee)
Lamar Dowling dined at the White House this school year. He was invited onto the Truman Balcony to have a chat with George W. Bush. He is not only aware of the important functions on campus, but he is personally invited. The reason? He knows when to keep his mouth shut.
The 22 year old from Ruston, La. is the one SMU student that is a full-voting member on the Board of Trustees. Four times a year Dowling sits in on board meetings, not only hearing, but actively participating in everything that goes on behind closed doors at the university.
Dowling’s job seems straightforward: bring the student voice to the board and help make tough decisions by representing his peers. But it is not as simple as it sounds.
“As the student trustee you not only have to look at the interest of the students, because that’s who you’re representing,” said Dowling. “You also have to remember that you’re looking at the interests of the university as a whole. It’s balancing that out and realizing what’s going to be the best decision for the university as a whole.”
Dowling makes himself readily available in his office and participates in many student-based organizations. He also makes sure he has a diverse group of friends and attends as many campus events as he can to make sure he knows what his peers are thinking.
So for some issues, like implementations set down by the Task Force, student input is easy to come by, and according to Dowling, the overall feeling toward changes set in place over the past year have been positive.
“Of course you see the tangible improvements that we haven’t had any more student deaths, and I think that’s been a good thing,” said Dowling.
But there are issues that students have no input on, because Dowling cannot talk about them outside of the board meetings.
“I don’t have super-duper secrets by any means, but there is stuff that doesn’t need to be talked about,” he said.
An example of things that do not need to be talked about could range from administrative compensation to lawsuits, or as Dowling put it, “an array of most anything that could go on.”
“I knew it was going to be a confidential position, but I didn’t know the extent to what it would be,” said Dowling.
In fact, Dowling said that about 75 percent of what is discussed with the board can’t be talked about outside of the meetings.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be an issue for me to talk about things more than I do,” said Dowling. “But I choose to air more on the side of caution so I don’t say something that I shouldn’t.”
Though part of his job is to keep mum, Dowling says his time on the board has been one of the most rewarding at SMU.
The 41-member board, not counting the student representative, includes recognizable faces such as former first lady Laura Bush, Carl Sewell of Sewell Automotive Companies, Gerald J. Ford of Diamond A Ford Corporation, Antonio Garza, JR. of the U. S. Department of State-American Embassy in Mexico, and Bobby Lyle of Lyco Holdings, Inc. But Dowling says the atmosphere is anything but intimidating.
“I thought it was going to be more uptight than it is,” said Dowling. “They’re listening to each other and learning from each other to make the best possible decision for the university.”
But Dowling did not just simply submit an application for his seat on the board. He began building up his extensive resume at SMU as a first-year.
In his freshman year alone, Dowling joined the Student Union, and during his second semester became the organizations chair. During the summer before his sophomore year he was an AARO leader. Once school began he served as a residence hall tour ambassador for Resident Life and Student Housing. He also took on the job of organization chair for Student Senate, as well as becoming a Student Foundation ambassador. In his junior year he successfully ran for student body secretary.
It was in student politics that Dowling found his calling, and decided to try for student body president. To his dismay, he did not win.
“That door ended up closing, which turned out to be a great blessing for me,” said Dowling.
So Dowling, under encouragement from friends, applied for the student position on the Board of Trustees. But he has not forgotten about his other activities. He is still an ambassador for Student Foundation as well as an active member of the Union.
“There were many sleepless nights at my time at SMU,” Dowling said with a smile on his face.
SMU describes the Board of Trustees as the governing body of the school, setting policies and guidelines, and Dowling says that they focus more on main goals and the future of the university.
To do this, several subcommittees are needed, 10 of which Dowling himself sits on. Six of these committees have one student representative alongside Dowling. One of them has two representatives.
The Academic Policy, Planning and Management Committee has one student representative and makes decisions on degree programs and educational policy. The athletics committee, which also has one student, “advises the board as to the status of the intercollegiate athletics program of the university, considering the academic performance of student athletes and the overall fiscal operation of the Athletics Department,” according to the Web site.
One student also sits on the Building and Grounds Committee, which makes suggestions on maintenance of the campus; the Development and External Affairs Committee, which works with fundraising and the presentation and promotion of SMU; Finance and Audit Liaison Committees, which review budgets and reviews the audit of books, records and securities; and the Investment Committee, which makes decisions regarding university endowment. Two students are also selected to represent the Student Affairs Committee, which advises the board on student life.
Dowling also sits on the Executive Committee, which “has all of the powers of the full board between board meetings,” according to the Web site. He is part of the Trusteeship Committee, which oversees the board, and the Legal and Governmental Affairs Committee, which handles legal issues at the university.
Interviews for the 2009-2010 student representative will be held April 19 in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center.
