As the Law now stands, the job of Student Regent is not an easy one. The person holding the position is expected to maintain their full-time educational status � working and learning towards an undergraduate or graduate degree � while at the same time representing the interests of a far-flung and highly diverse student body. This job is made all the more difficult by a Student Regent�s abrupt entry onto the Board. The learning curve in such a situation is steep.

House Bill 72 seeks to alleviate this problem by adding a second Student Regent, or Junior Regent, to the Board and establishing a new dynamic for both their service and succession. In practice, terms of individual Student Regents will still be two years but under this framework their terms will be overlapping and staggered. Newly appointed to the Board, the Junior Regent will spend his or her first year of service learning from the experience of the more Senior Regent and other members of the Board, attending meetings and participating in the subcommittee process as a voting member. The second year of the Student Regent�s term will see him or her elevated to the position of Senior Regent, where they will be allowed to fully participate in and vote on Board decisions.

House Bill 72 adds a further stipulation that at least one member of Board of Regents must have received either an undergraduate or graduate degree from the University of Alaska.