With the UW implementing $214 million in budget cuts across its academic departments, many students have expressed concern that their opinions about where cuts will be made will not be heard by administrators.

However, students do have a way to voice their concerns — it’s simply not being utilized.

Each academic department has some form of an advisory council made up primarily of full-time professors who help make decisions that include granting tenure, salary allocation, educational policy and matters of the budget. What many don’t know is that on these councils are spaces reserved for students. Because most students don’t know that these council slots exist, many remain vacant.

Ana Mari Cauce, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences — which is looking at a 5.2 percent cut totaling more than $6 million — said one reason student participation is lacking is because roughly 80 percent of the decisions coming from the councils are related to tenure and promotion. Cauce said these kind of decisions need to be made by faculty, so students might not participate in a majority of decisions made by the councils.

However, the College of Arts & Sciences — which offers 67 percent of bachelor’s degrees at the university and 71 percent of credit hours for undergraduates — did seek ASUW and Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) representation, Cauce said.

“I can say with certainty we asked in 2006, 2007, 2008, and my understanding is that we asked again this year,” Cauce said. “We have historically asked for student representation.”

According to the college’s Code of Organization and Procedure, the council may have two student representatives, one selected by ASUW and one by GPSS. These seats are currently unfilled.

GPSS Vice President Dave Iseminger is in charge of filling the various committee seats for GPSS. Iseminger said he had only just learned about the advisory positions himself and said that it’s difficult to keep track of the long list of boards and committees where student representatives are needed.

“It is something I am working on as I learn more about the committee,” Iseminger said.

ASUW relies on its vice president and its director of faculty, administration and academic affairs to seek a student volunteer for these positions. These two officers seek out and review applications from a list of candidates and then begin an interview process.

ASUW Vice President Dolly Nguyen said this process is now underway, though due to by-laws, only half of the open student representative positions can be filled by the current ASUW board of directors; the rest must wait until the new board is elected.

“If we don’t know about the position, then it doesn’t get filled,” Nguyen said. “In the end, the ultimate goal for the association is to keep tabs on all of these committees to ensure that they are filled because student voice is vital.”

Cauce said the last time she remembers a student being active on the college council was in 2004.

“We have continued to ask ASUW and GPSS if they want to have a member, and they have not appointed anyone,” Cauce said.

Cauce pointed out that a student voice on the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting under the Office of the Provost would prove to be very beneficial, as that office distributes cuts to all colleges.

Nguyen said that because of budget cuts, there has been a recent push to fill student representative positions, even at such a late date in the academic year.

“I want a student representative more so to find out what’s going on so that the rest of the students can be informed,” said Phuong Nguyen, ASUW director of faculty, administration and academic affairs. “I feel like in the end, students are the main reason why there is a university, so re-shifting the focus on student needs are most important.”

Reach contributing writer Adam Magnoni at news@dailyuw.com.