The Board of Regents is facing a possible makeover as the fall semester approaches.

The Senate Committee on Higher Education and Tourism recently proposed and presented SB85, a bill authored by Sens. Sheila Harsdorf and Dale W. Schultz.

The bill would alter the makeup of the board by appointing one representative from each of the 16 Wisconsin technical college districts and by adding a student of at least 24 years of age to represent nontraditional students from UW System schools.

As of now, the Board of Regents consists of a state superintendent of public instruction, 14 citizen members, one UW System student and an appointee from the technical college system board.

Chris Schneider, Committee Clerk for the Higher Education and Tourism Committee, said if passed, SB85 would make board affairs more regionally proportional.

“What [Harsdorf] was seeing on the board was a lack of statewide representation,” he said.

Schneider also feels SB85 would pay heed to the ever-growing numbers of nontraditional students, those who are at least 24 and have been in the work force but continue to receive higher education.

“This is a growing population, one that the universities should be more aware of,” said board member Roger Axtell.

As both Schneider and Axtell point out, the number of high school students is leveling out across the state, while the proportion of nontraditional students is climbing toward 25 percent of those receiving an education.

Although Axtell sees SB85 as “an exceptional idea,” he feels the suggested term of two years for the proposed board member would take away from any benefits the new position would create.

“Two years is not the best period of time to learn. There’s at least a one-year learning curve,” he said, noting that both the university and board systems are complicated enterprises that cannot be easily learned.

Further, Axtell feels the demands of a board position could be difficult to meet, especially for a student.

“It is a very time-consuming job,” he said, but he added students have met such demands in the past, such as former student body president of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Tommie Jones.

“He was one of the best and jumped right in,” Axtell said.

Despite such concerns, both Schneider and Axtell see SB85 as a legitimate possibility for the future.

“The ultimate benefit is that it would add more student representation,” Schneider said.

The Associated Students of Madison and the United Council have shown adamant support for the bill at past legislative meetings, Schneider said. He added, “The students are receiving it well.”

No date has been set to vote on SB85, and the Board of Regents has only had brief discussions on the bill, Axtell said.