The two student-selected members of the Board of Trustees' steering committee that will help shape the future of social and residential life at Dartmouth will be chosen through two processes -- a campus-wide election and an appointment by the Student Assembly.
The two student representatives that will serve on the 14-member committee, which will also include three other student members chosen by the steering committee itself, must be selected by May 12.
"We've been advocating for students to vote for Trustees, but this is the next best thing, an opportunity to vote for someone to serve with the trustees," Assembly Vice President-elect Margaret Kuecker '01 said.
While more time would make the process easier, in the end, two representative students will be selected, Krishna said.
"It's going to be crunch time, but it is an issue people have been thinking about for three months, and hopefully people are [prepared] so we can have really good and interested applicants," Kuecker said.
To strive for more balanced and complementary representatives, the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee will choose a representative after the general election results have been announced, so that by May 12 both representatives will be known, Assembly President-elect Dean Krishna '01 said.
A campus-wide Blitzmail message will be sent today providing information on how to become a candidate for the steering committee.
Once interested applicants have filled out an application form, their responses will be publicly posted to inform voters.
The delay in deciding a process to choose the representatives originated from the mixed messages of deadlines, Kuecker said.
Krishna met with Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson Monday to determine a time frame of three to four weeks. A letter from College President James Wright later that day, however, stated the Assembly had only until May 7 to decide the representatives. The date was later extended to May 12.
In the last week and a half, Krishna and Kuecker have considered other possible scenarios, such as the campus-wide election of both representatives.
The appointed representative, selected by the MIAC, will be a complex process. A total of eight Assembly members will compose a temporarily expanded MIAC committee, evenly selected at two organizational meetings, Krishna said.
The additional four members chosen to temporarily serve on the MIAC will return to their regular Assembly once will leave it once they the representative of the steering committee is selected.
At a second meeting a week later, four more members will be selected from a bigger Assembly.
