On a board with Ohio’s wealthiest man, the state’s first female Speaker of the House, a federal judge and 13 other powerful people sits someone who is still a few months from college graduation.
Debra Van CampThis committee’s task: the highest level of governance for the nation’s largest university. Debra Van Camp breaks the pattern of silver hair and thick wallets around the table of the Ohio State University Board of Trustees. She is the Undergraduate Student Trustee, appointed by the governor almost two years ago.
Blessed with a Midwestern work ethic and humility, Van Camp came to Ohio State from her small town home with big eyes and big ambitions.
Not until late in her senior year of high school had Debra even thought about college.
“The way my family was, I think they expected that I’d go to college,” she said. “It was kind of like, ‘Debra’s the smart kid of the family,’ but they didn’t really know how to help me beyond that.”
She says that when two of her high school teachers encouraged her to apply to colleges, she applied only to OSU.
After being accepted, she enrolled at OSU in the autumn of 2005 after graduating from Canal Winchester High School in Fairfield County.
She is also the first student from Fairfield County to receive a Land Grant Opportunity Scholarship, a new scholarship given to one student from each of Ohio’s 88 counties each year.
“Getting the scholarship was a huge blessing … I really didn’t have any plans for how I was going to pay for college. I think I was really na’ve about it,” she said.
Putting to good work the liberation from financial strain that the scholarship provided, she headed to China her freshman year to study – the first time she had ever left the United States.
Required to work by her scholarship, Van Camp took a position with the university’s Economic Access Initiative during her sophomore year.
The program is headed by Tally Hart. She was formerly the director of financial aid for the university and she developed the scholarship program that brought Van Camp to OSU.
Hart became a mentor and it was through her that Van Camp found out about the Board of Trustees. She accompanied Hart to a board meeting where she met one of the student trustees. Van Camp soon completed the application for the Undergraduate Student Trustee position. She was appointed by the governor to the board and took her seat on May 31, 2007.
As a student on the board, Van Camp represents the students, although maybe not in the way they are accustomed. She contrasted her role to that of the Undergraduate Student Government: USG is the students’ voice. The student trustee is a student’s voice.
“The graduate and undergraduate student trustees specifically have a responsibility to get a student perspective to the board,” she said. “We’re coming with a student perspective but we’re not solely representing the students.”
She said her job requires her to look out for the best interest of the university. “Usually those things go hand in hand, so usually the interest of the students is the best interest of the university,” she said.
She explained her position by comparing her role within the Board of Trustees to the other members. All of them have specific areas of expertise, and the student trustee has student expertise.
“We are on campus every day,” she said. “I’m seeing the students every day. I’m seeing the construction, actually living the life of a student and feeling the culture of the university. So when we’re having discussions on strategic planning, master space planning or facilities planning, I can say, ‘It’s a pain to walk from this point to this point.’ I’m just giving a very ground level perspective.”
Student trustees are the only members of the board without a vote. This has been contentious in the past but “it’s almost a moot issue,” she said. “I don’t ever feel like anything that I say isn’t considered.”
Van Camp said she probably even talks too much in the board meetings, but that the zeal is appreciated by her colleagues. At the most recent board meeting she sat comfortably taking notes, lifted her head from the scribbling and gave her utmost attention any time students or student affairs were brought up. Without hesitation, she freely joined the conversation to ask for clarification or to add her perspective.
This was not always the case, she said.
At first, sitting at the table as a 20-year-old was intimidating. She said the intimidation disappeared as soon as she got to know the rest of the board.
“They’re very logical. They think through things just like we do. It made it a lot more tangible,” she said.
She said her concept of the university has changed through her term on the board.
“Truly what it is, is an incredible network of people who really care. They care about the mission of the university and they really care about students. They believe in education as an essential piece of the foundation of the future.”
The board is the outgrowth of a sweeping process of change. State law was amended to increase the number of board members from nine to 15 in 2005. Secretary of the Board David Frantz said that the expansion was necessary because “nine left OSU without the expertise it needed,” adding that the expansion, “gave the board a great opportunity to redo everything.”
“There used to be a lot of micromanaging issues,” Van Camp said of the old system, “but after going through this self review process we now have clear goals for the university and a clear direction, and I think that it’s a much stronger board.”
Her term as Undergraduate Student Trustee expires on May 31, 2009. The interview process to find her replacement has begun, and Van Camp is set to graduate in June and is looking to continue on to a graduate degree. She wants to work in agriculture and food policy.
“Every day that goes by I have a greater sense of pride,” she said, “and feel a greater sense of responsibility in contributing to the university’s future but also to Ohio’s future.”
NOTABLE CO-WORKERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Leslie H. WexnerLeslie H. Wexner – Chairman-ElectThe richest man in Ohio, according to Forbes, Wexner is chairman, president and CEO of Limited Brands. His most recent term on the Board of Trustees began in 2005. He was also on the board from 1988-1997, serving as chairman in the last year of that term.
Jo Ann DavidsonJo Ann DavidsonA former Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives (1995-2000), she served 10 terms in the House. She owns a consulting firm and is co-chairman of the Republican National Committee. She was appointed to the board in 2001.
Algenon L. MarbleyAlgenon L. MarbleyAppointed in 1997 by President Clinton as a United States federal district judge for Southern Ohio, Marbley is an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and at Harvard Law School. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2007.
C. Gilbert CloydC
. Gilbert Cloyd – Chairman of the BoardServes as chief technology officer for Procter & Gamble, where he has worked for the past 35 years. He has served on the Board of Trustees since 2005. His duties at P&G involve overseeing the functional responsibility for P&G’s global Research & Development organization.
Dimon R. McFersonDimon R. McFerson – Vice ChairmanHas been on the board since 2000. He began work with Nationwide in 1979 and was CEO when he retired the same year he was appointed to the Board of Trustees.
Scott O’Rourke can be reached at [email protected]
