The Arizona Board of Regents is moving to change its policies regarding oversight of student governments, granting university presidents the ability to have another administrator make decisions about the organizations' governing documents and budgets.
Changes to ABOR Policy Manual section 5-202 would allow a university president's designee to call for revisions of a student government's governing documents and approve proposed amendments.
The revision to section 5-202 also includes a new supremacy clause for student government policy.
"In any case where a provision in the constitution, bylaws, regulations, or practice of the associated student organizations conflicts with ABOR Policy, ABOR Policy shall govern," the addition reads.
A change to section 5-203 would mean any amendment of a student government's budget also requires approval from the president or their designee, who can also alter the list of budgeted items and adjust allocated amounts at their discretion.
The revisions also standardize how the Policy Manual refers to student governments, moving from a mix of "Associated Students," "student bodies" and "associated student bodies" to "associated student organizations."
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ABOR Student Regent Felipe Garcia said in a written statement that the policies will refine the performance of the organizations.
"The updates to ABOR's student government policies help clarify the operational side of student governments," Garcia stated. "These policies do not replace constitutions but instead ensure support in areas like budgeting and governance."
Garcia stated the updates are intended to make the functions of student governments easier.
"Our student governments play an important role in representing student voices and managing resources responsibly," Garcia said. "This policy update helps provide a clearer framework so they can focus on what matters most: advocating for students and contributing meaningfully to the university community."
Joshua Cole, the student body president of the Undergraduate Student Government West Valley and a junior studying applied computing, said these changes are not much different than the current operations.
"The perspective generally in USG, and I'm not going to speak for any specific governments or people, is that many of the outlined practices reflect practices that we're currently operating under," Cole said.
USGWV already runs budgetary changes by a University administrator, Cole said, meaning those practices won't be affected.
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Cole said he has discussed the renaming of the student governments in the Policy Manual with the ABOR student regents. The reclassification was explained as an effort to ensure consistency in the document.
The only new update Cole saw was the requirement to submit a written explanation for any proposed changes to a student government's constitution.
"Change is being implemented with the goal of ensuring that all changes of the constitution fall within ABOR policy," Cole said.
However, Cole Cloyd, a doctoral student studying religious studies and speaker of the Graduate Student Government Assembly, said GSG is worried about the effects these changes might have.
Cloyd said his biggest concern is the re-designation of associated student organizations, as he is worried that it might diminish the job of the student governments.
"We're a democratic institution where members of our student body vote and entrust us to steward the monies that they pay for their benefit," Cloyd said.
The change disregards GSG's authority and rights, he said.
Following approval of the revisions by the University Governance and Operations committee, ABOR reviewed student government members' comments and added a definition of "associated student organizations" to clarify that they are elected student government organizations, according to an ABOR meeting agenda.
Cloyd also said the budgetary power of the designees is too vast.
"This oversight, without accountability, without transparency — that's very dangerous," Cloyd said. "The fact that somebody has complete veto power over any kind of budgetary item and they don't have to explain why that is, that's serious conflicts of interest, serious concerns."
On March 27, GSG passed Assembly Resolution 24-09 to urge more transparency about decisions made by designees.
This document was approved by GSG on Friday, March 27, 2026. This piece of legislation urges for greater transparency from ABOR about administrative oversight.
The resolution includes proposed transparency language, requesting ABOR add sections requiring university presidents and designees to accompany changes to student government documents and budgets with written justification.
"Essentially what it's saying is that, one, we want to be recognized as associated student governments and that any kind of adoption, any changes to our bylaws, our constitutions, any of our governing documents, it needs to be explained to us," Cloyd said.
Megan Gilbertson, the associate vice president of communications for ABOR, in a written statement, said the designee would be assuming tasks that university presidents already perform and that students should see no changes in practice.
As for the redesignation to "associated student organizations," Gilbertson said it will create uniformity.
"This change was meant to provide consistency with statute, which refers to the elected student government entities at each university," Gilbertson said in the statement.
The proposed changes will first be reviewed by ABOR at a meeting on April 16. According to the ABOR meeting agenda, final approval is anticipated for a June meeting.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Jack McCarthy and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at msweador@asu.edu and follow @miasweador on X.
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