There’s a bill awaiting Gov. Quinn’s signature that stands to have a wide-ranging effect on student governance at the University.

Following residency disputes during graduate student Carey Ash’s campaign for student trustee in spring 2013, this bill would prohibit the University from using tuition-based residency in deciding whether a student can serve as student trustee. 

A bill such as this is essential in preserving the right of all Illinois residents attending the University to serve as student trustee, something that has not been guaranteed in the past. 

Ash, originally from Louisiana, has lived in Urbana for six years, serves on the Urbana Plan Commission and votes in a local district. Despite this, the University eliminated Ash from the spring 2013 ballot for student trustee due to his out-of-state tuition status. 

The Daily Illini Editorial Board endorsed him in March 2013, seeing him as the most qualified candidate for trustee in the election. Although Ash was forced to run as a write-in candidate, he still garnered overwhelming support from the campus, earning the fourth-largest amount of votes — ahead of two candidates who were listed on the ballot.

House Bill 4284, which passed overwhelmingly in both houses, was sponsored by State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana. Ash spoke with Jakobsson and gained her support for his cause — bringing her to introduce the bill in Jan.

It’s a shame that such a qualified candidate was not given the chance to be on the ballot, especially considering he’s pursuing a doctorate in educational policy and just received his degree in law. 

It’s hard to imagine a more qualified candidate for student trustee.

Although the University missed out in the past, this bill would now serve to prevent elimination of qualified candidates for student trustee even if they do not pay in-state tuition. Regardless of tuition rate, University students who make their home in Illinois have the right to represent their peers to the Board of Trustees. 

Because he plans to leave the University after next fall, Ash will not have the chance to run for trustee again, but he told the News-Gazette in May that the issue was never about him.

“I was simply the one it happened to, as a representative of a class of students who deserve to be treated equally,” he said. 

The University missed out on a fantastic representative of the student body, but at least all University of Illinois students permanently living in Illinois will now have the chance to run for student trustee unfettered.