Although the governing council does have an eclectic mix of personalities, one thing that is being looked at is student representation. There are only three student representatives as opposed to the four businessmen on the committee. Joseph Mapa is the president and CEO of Mount Sinai Hospital, Jack Petch is a lawyer, and David Wilson, Jacqueline Orange, and Rose Patten are bankers. "All business people on the committee were once students, and I think that it is unfair to single them out because of their profession. All the individuals on the search committee had to have been nominated, and their willingness to stand for nomination is a testament to their dedication to the U of T community. I think you will find that these people wanted to serve on the committee because they want to contribute to their community; they do not have an ulterior motive and there is NO conspiracy afoot," affirms Student Governor and commissioner for SAC Ari Kopovolic. "I don’t think that the students will have their voices ignored, and I would be very surprised if the committee is not unanimous in its decision. I am not an expert on this, but I think that they usually don’t pick someone unless everyone is satisfied, including the students," adds Kopovolic.

There is also some talk of student organizations not being represented fairly. SAC was shut out of the committee and the other student societies that are the official representatives of students according to the governing council, APUS and SCSU to name a few, were also shut out. Currently, the only student organization being represented is the GSU. Howard Tam, Vice-president of University Affairs, states that "Though nominees with experience were submitted by these organizations, they were passed over for other members with less experience. It seems as if the university chooses when it wants to hear from the "official" student societies provided it is in the university's interest."

Kopovolic differs in that regard, however. "By the same logic you could say that since there are only three student spaces, one full-time undergraduate (a.k.a SAC) spot, one part-time (a.k.a APUS) spot, and one graduate (a.k.a GSU) spot. These students should not be nominated, but rather should just be the presidents of SAC, APUS and the GSU. This would not be fair because how then would a student from UTSC ever get on the committee? Since SCSU has separated from SAC, just being the respective presidents would yield more students than there are spaces on the committee. Also, since search processes can last longer than a year, it is important that the person chosen is someone who can fulfill the role past a certain date."

U of T’s suburban campuses also have been noted to have a lack of representation on the search committee as well. Cheryl Misak, Vice Principal (academic) dean and professor in the department of philosophy is from UTM, but there is no UTSC representative on the committee. Kopovolic asserts that Paul Gooch, President of Victoria University and a professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Centre for Religious Studies, was a former chair of the Division of Humanities at UTSC. Tam believes that the search committee has failed to properly represent the suburban campuses.

"In terms of the suburban campuses, I feel they too should have had a student rep there. They are medium universities in and of themselves that have individual needs that lay-students from St. George won’t understand. For example, UTSC is trimestered. UTSC and UTM have grown significantly over the years, and they increasingly have autonomy over their own affairs. The university even appoints a VP UTSC and VP UTM to recognize this, so it is only fair that their student needs are represented as well."

Tam maintains that the university needs to focus more on the student experience and quality of education. "Unless the university focuses more on this, the undergraduate reputation will start to degenerate, which was clearly obvious in the student satisfaction survey released last year by the Globe and Mail, which ranked us close to the bottom."