In 1973 State Representative John K. Mann introduced legislation in the 1973 session of the General Assembly to expand the board of trustees by adding a student member. UT President Edward J. Boling opposed the addition of a student to the board on the grounds that a one-year term was meaningless and constituted a first step toward making the board a collection of constituent groups.
The bill did not pass in 1973 and was reintroduced in 1974. The bill, as amended by Senator Brown Ayres, called for the governor to appoint the student member from three names submitted by the student government of the campus the student would represent and required that the member would rotate among the campuses. On March 21, 1974, Governor Winfield Dunn signed the bill. The student trustee would serve a one-year term as a voting member, starting July 1, 1974. An election was held at UT Knoxville to name the three candidates to be presented to the governor. Bill Nolan was the top vote getter, followed by Art Williams and Jim Hagar. Governor Winfield Dunn appointed Bill Nolan.
A faculty representative was then added and also rotated among the campuses, as in the case of the student trustee.
In 2004 state Senator Jamie Hagood introduced a bill, supported by UT and unanimously passed in the House and Senate, which provided for two student and two faculty representatives on the board of trustees. The new bill provided that representatives would be appointed for two years—serving the first year of appointment as a nonvoting member and the second year as the voting representative.