In the first step towards determining two student-selected representatives to the Board of Trustees' steering committee, the Student Assembly elected the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee last night at the first organizational meeting held by the 1999-2000 Assembly.
A total of five students will sit on the 14-member steering committee, two of whom will be student-selected. The Steering Committee - charged with shaping the future of social and residential life at the College - will choose two more undergraduates while a graduate student will also be included.
Assembly President-elect Dean Krishna '01 and Vice President-elect Margaret Kuecker '01 announced on April 29 the structure to choose the two student-selected members to the steering committee.
A campus-wide election will determine one representative, and then the MIAC will choose the other once the elected representative is disclosed. The MIAC, however, does wield the final jurisdiction to alter the process of how the two students will be chosen.
The Assembly's selection committee to select one of the two student representatives will include the MIAC as well as four additional Assembly members, who will be chosen at the second organizational meeting next Sunday.
At last night's organizational meeting, where voting privileges were restricted to only elected representatives, current Assembly Vice President Case Dorkey '99, Matt Benedetto '00, Melissa Oliver '01 and Sabeen Hassanali '02 were selected.
To extend an opportunity to participate in the selection, an extra four students, who would not be members of the MIAC, will be chosen until the task is completed, whereupon they will return to their normal Assembly duties.
The method for selecting applicants of the MIAC appointed representative has yet to be decided, although it will be done on a consensus basis, Dorkey said.
Once the MIAC has decided, it will conduct further nominations as to whom the administration should appoint to fill the other two spots, Dorkey said.
The MIAC consists of five members, including the vice president, who chairs the committee. Membership and internal affairs of the Assembly fall under the purview of MIAC. Approving membership, nominating students to College committees and the internal running of Assembly and its committees are examples of the MIAC's role.
The deadline for nominations of elected candidates was extended from midnight on Sunday to midnight on Monday to allow for nominations of members of the Class of 1999.
The Assembly transmitted another campus-wide BlitzMail message to the student body last night to inform them of the update.
Nominated candidates' qualifying statements will be posted on the web as well as distributed in public places.
