June 21, 2018
Senate confirms West Chester student leader to State System’s Board of Governors
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – The state Senate has confirmed Rodney Kaplan Jr., president of the Student Government
Association at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, to serve on the Board of Governors
of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
Kaplan joins fellow students Brian Swatt, president of the Student Government Association
at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and Joar Dahn, president of the Community Government
Association at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, on the 20-member board that
oversees Pennsylvania’s 14 public universities.
Kaplan is majoring in both political science and economics at West Chester, where
he is enrolled in the Honors College and from which he plans to graduate in December
2019. He was elected SGA president in April, after having previously served as treasurer.
He also is a member of the Board of Directors of Student Services Inc., which oversees
student activities and manages the campus bookstore and is student director of Sykes
Student Union.
He has served as a community senator for the SGA since 2015, acting as a liaison between
the organization and the Borough of West Chester, meeting each semester with the mayor
and Borough Council president and attending all Borough Council meetings. He also
is a member of the Friars’ Society of West Chester University, for which he designs
and implements volunteer projects to benefit both the campus and community while fostering
“understanding, tolerance and spirit of selflessness through campus and community
service.”
“I am pleased to welcome Rodney as our third student member,” said Board of Governors
Chairwoman Cynthia D. Shapira. “He, Brian and Joar will provide their unique perspective
to our discussions and deliberations. The role our student members play is extremely
important, and I look forward to their full participation in our decision making as
we move forward with redesigning the State System.”
The System Redesign began last year with a top-to-bottom review of the universities
and the Office of the Chancellor. As a result of that review, the Board established
three priorities to guide the redesign: ensuring student success; leveraging the universities’
strengths; and transforming the System’s governance structure. The Board also affirmed
its commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability of all 14 institutions within
the System so that each may continue to serve students, its region and the Commonwealth.
The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the
development and operation of the State System. It establishes broad fiscal, personnel
and educational policies under which the universities operate.
The three student members who serve on the Board are selected from among the sitting
student government presidents at the universities at the time a vacancy occurs. Once
appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, a student member may serve
until he or she is graduated. The three student members participate in all discussions
of the Board and have the same voting rights as all other members.
In addition to the three students, the Board comprises 11 members appointed by the
governor, four legislators, the governor or a designee and the state secretary of
education or a designee.