On Thursday, the Oakland University Board of Trustees will conduct its second formal meeting of the academic school year.

Though the meetings are typically held in the Elliot Auditorium on campus, this meeting will be held off campus at the Anton Frankel Center in Mount Clemens at 2 p.m.

When we asked why the meeting would be held off campus, we were told it could possibly be so board members could be introduced to the new center, which was built over a year ago.

The BOT is responsible for making important decisions regarding the university.

They make decisions about things like tuition increases, new building proposals, housing and custodial contracts.

This meeting, which will be the first one attended by the new BOT Chairperson Michael Kramer and Trustees Scott Kuneselman and Dennis Pawley, is only one of five meetings held during the school year. It’s also one of two meetings that will be held in Mount Clemens this year.

Some topics up for discussion include AAUP, but the most pressing topic to discuss is housing.

Considering the importance of the items discussed, we would like to see more non-BOT participation.

In the last several meetings we’ve attended, we’ve only seen a few faculty members, and even fewer students — some of whom were there for class assignments and work requirements, not on their own free will. That means that very few students are putting forth the effort needed to first understand and then improve their school.

This needs to change.

Students are notorious for complaining about decisions the BOT makes, but are refraining from actually attending and being involved with the process, unless the items are controversial. Even then, university officials outnumber them.

We can’t lay the blame on just the students, however.

Oakland needs to put forth more of an effort to make students aware of when the meetings are taking place and where. Informing the students of the locations of these meetings is especially important when they are being held off campus.

Regardless of the fact that attendance by students and faculty is usually low at the on campus meetings, how are students and faculty expected to contribute to discussions about the school if they have to drive 21 miles just to be there?

In order to be involved in the process, students have to be informed.

While we can sit here and tell you to get involved, nothing will happen until you actually do so.

Start attending the meetings to make your opinions count. A Facebook post or Tweet won’t accomplish anything. Attending a BOT meeting and making your ideas known will.

UPDATE: The Board will be showing a live video conference call of the meeting at 2 p.m. in 242 Elliot Hall.