The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: News

Student Trustee Corey Schmitt.

Corey Schmitt, a sophomore who currently serves as speaker of the senate for USG, was elected as the Undergraduate Student Trustee on the Board of Trustees last week.

Schmitt, who is a political science major, will begin his two-year term July 1.

Schmitt said he ran for trustee to have greater leverage in getting things done for his peers.

"As much as I love USG - and I do, with a dying passion - I feel as though there's only so much you can do from this office and from this organization as far as changing student life significantly," Schmitt said. "I saw the student trustee position as a chance for me to branch out and expand a little bit more, get a position where I could make a difference at UConn."

Schmitt hopes his depth of experience with USG will help him serve students better as a trustee.

"Being in USG, you get a lot of input from people, so I want to be that cohesive unit between USG and the Board of Trustees," said Schmitt.

He also plans to represent students from UConn's regional campuses to the best of his ability, something he doesn't think has been done by past student trustees.

"I e-mailed a bunch of student leaders from the branch campuses. I want to maybe meet [with them] every month or every other month to see what's on their minds, see what's bothering them, see how I can help from a trustee standpoint," Schmitt said.

"I certainly want to make it happen. Ninety percent of the meetings for trustees are up here. It's hard for [regional] students to get involved in actual university issues."

The budget problems the university is experiencing are Schmitt's greatest concern as he undertakes his new position.

"The last thing I want to see is to have to cut programs and faculty and stuff like that," he said.

He also knows that Spring Weekend has been a hot topic for the board of late, and that it will continue to be discussed for years to come.

Ross Gionfriddo, the current Undergraduate Trustee, said Spring Weekend and tuition were the biggest issues debated by the board this year. Schmitt and Gionfriddo have met to begin transitioning the position.

"It's a very important position, and I'm sure he'll do a great job," said Gionfriddo, an 8th-semester political science and economics double major.

Schmitt's colleagues in USG believe he is the right man for the job.

"Corey has been involved in all of the aspects of USG and he tends to do a great job with everything that he does," said Kay Bloomberg, a 6th-semester management major and USG Academic Affairs chair. "He's really capable and he's

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