The Senior Executive Committee announced Tuesday evening the eight seniors selected as the Class of 2006 marshals, campus leaders who the class will follow to the Green for this year's Commencement ceremony.
The ninth class marshal position is automatically assumed every year by the senior class president.
Over 40 seniors were nominated for the position in a selection process that SEC President Anthony Bramante described as highly "complicated" and "confidential." Any member of the Class of 2006 could nominate him or herself, or another person for the position.
2006 Class Marshall Alison Crocker, who will be a Rhodes Scholar next year, said the honor came as a complete shock.
"I didn't know I was nominated or anything," Crocker said.
2006 Class Marshall Chelsea Voake '06, a senior interviewer and founder of Speak Out, echoed Crocker's surprise.
"I'm not entirely sure what the basis is for these decisions or why they're made the way that they are, but I was very honored to be selected," Voake said.
For five of the class marshals, the decision came as less of a surprise. Class marshals Marie Choi, Mike Guzman, Russ Lane, Ben Schwartz and Edy Wilson also serve as members of SEC, and were involved in the selection process. However, this direct path from being a member of SEC to becoming a marshal is not uncommon in recent years: Five members of the SEC served for the Class of 2005 marshals as well.
Eleven of the SEC's 21 members received nominations, and SEC President Anthony Bramante said the SEC members took into account that there were SEC members nominated. The SEC made sure that "despite the fact that they were on the SEC, they were not given greater weight or less weight," Bramante said.
According to Bramante, the SEC considers a "whole range of qualities" in the nominees before selecting them, focusing on their "overall impact on the Dartmouth community."
"Being on the SEC I don't think was looked at as a big impact on the Dartmouth community. We were looking at the whole four years of Dartmouth experience," he said.
Crocker said she thought the high number of SEC members serving as class marshals likely reflects the caliber of the students on SEC.
"They were probably nominated for [SEC] because they're really important people on campus," Crocker said. "It's probably not that there's something wrong with the system."
Matthew Schwartz, a nominee who was not selected to serve as a 2006 marshal, agreed in part with Crocker, but felt more effort could have been made to select marshals outside of the SEC.
"The people on the SEC are qualified and well-liked individuals who have demonstrated a love for Dartmouth, which I think also matches well with the marshal position," Schwartz said. "It is unfortunate that they didn't allow more individuals to become involved in the graduation process. The committee could have certainly made a push to include more [seniors], because five out of eight is simply too many."
The five SEC members chosen as marshals either were not available for comment or refused to comment given the confidential nature of the selection process.
"As a member of SEC, I can't really speak about my being chosen," Guzman said.
Russel Gordon, the third non-SEC class marshal selected, was not available for comment by the time this article went to press.
