Due Process

The choice of who will be selected to participate on the steering committee is going to be one of the most important decisions by the student body in our tenure at the College. This selection will almost certainly be as much a result of process as it will be a matter of the potential candidates from which to choose. The process in this case is of such importance because it will determine how well the student body will be represented on the committee. It cannot be overestimated how crucial a role these students will play in the future of Dartmouth. They are going to have to relate to the Trustees the values and the reality of student life on campus. They are going to have to stand up for what students hold dear in the face of a possibly unreceptive committee, and they are going to have to know when to compromise and when to hold their ground. A campus-wide election will not produce someone with the qualifications necessary for this committee. It would produce an affable, friendly person who gets along with a lot of people, and may know a lot of people. It will not produce someone who has the qualities necessary to stare down a Trustee. How well one runs a campaign, and how well one presents student views to this committee are not necessarily the same thing. The selection process should take the following form: There should be a well publicized application process to which any student may apply. After this, there should be an interview process by a Student Assembly committee. In addition, there should be an open process by which any student may offer opinions on the candidates to the committee. This will ensure that an informed, knowledgeable judgment can be made, with input coming from the entire student body. Student Assembly has experienced a diversification in its own representation over the past year. It is now more reflective of the composition of the student body, including an increase in the membership of Greek affiliated students. They should take advantage of this representation now by providing a more in-depth selection process than an election would permit. It would be easy for the Student Assembly to hold a campus-wide election to choose who gets these positions. This would put the onus of responsibility on the collective student body, and would allow SA to say that the students chose. This will not result in the best representatives, it will result in the best poster-makers, or the person who knows more people. The harder choice for the SA is to take on this burden of selection themselves; but if this is done with free student input on the individual merits of the candidates, it will surely result in the best representation.