The panel proposed by acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears to review the College's alcohol policy will consist of nine students selected by Student Assembly, according to Student Body President Frances Vernon '10. Applications have been sent to student organizations and were made available to upperclass students on Tuesday, Vernon said.
Members of the panel will be chosen by the Assembly's Membership and Internal Affairs Committee, which typically chooses the membership of College committees, Vernon said.
MIAC is composed of the Assembly vice president and five members elected from the General Assembly, according to the organization's constitution.
Many campus groups are affected by Student Event Management Procedures, particularly if they hold events where alcohol is served, making it important to have a "well-rounded" review panel, Student Assembly Vice President Cory Cunningham '10 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Assembly members plan to work with Spears to ensure that committee members are chosen "in the most fair way possible," he said.
"We're trying to get a good cross-section of the different communities that are affected by SEMP policy in some form," he said. "We haven't set any specific quotas, although at this point a lot is still tentative."
Cunningham is a member of The Dartmouth senior business staff.
Once the review panel's membership is finalized, its operation will be turned over to the Dean of the College's office and Student Assembly will have no hand in managing its affairs, Vernon said. Interim associate Dean of the College Harry Kinne will oversee the panel once it comes under the auspices of the Dean of the College's Office, Vernon said.
The Assembly was chosen to select the panel's membership because SEMP is a campus-wide policy, Cunningham said. While there were some concerns that the Assembly ought to be more constrained as it determines the committee members, Cunningham said, Assembly members hope to allay those concerns by building a representative board from its pool of applicants.
"We have to carefully evaluate how we're going to make those decisions, based on the applications we receive," he said.
Assembly members met Monday with students from different segments of the student body to discuss the selection process, Vernon said.
"This process is in no way trying to be exclusive to anyone on campus," she said.
Greek leaders trust the Assembly to choose a group representative of the constituencies affected by SEMP, Interfraternity Council President Zachary Gottlieb '10 said in an interview.
"In the past, it might have been a concern that this was going to be an [Assembly] group," he said. "I think we've kind of transcended some of those old grudges. I personally have worked a lot with Frances Vernon to make sure she understands our interests."
Gottlieb is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth.
While several Greek leaders said they believed the inclusion of unaffiliated students and non-drinkers on the panel could prove beneficial, they also said they hoped the panel would adequately represent members of Greek organizations who are familiar with the SEMP policy.
"[Greek leaders] are the ones who should be relied most heavily on, because we really understand how the process works and how to implement that change," Michael Brasher '10, president of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, said in an interview.
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority President Zakieh Bigio '10 said it was important to include a variety of perspectives on the review board because SEMP affects all students, not only those directly involved with the Greek system.
Following Spears' proposal of the student review board last week, some Greek leaders particularly of fraternities and local sororities were concerned that they would be inadequately represented during the review, Bigio said. She said she later met with Vernon, who assured her that Greeks would be heard.
"[Vernon] explained that because Greeks make up the bulk of campus, it organically happens that there is a lot of Greek representation on these boards," Bigio said. "She and I, personally, believe it is important to have other perspectives, too."
Bigio and Sigma Delta sorority President Isabelle Schless '10 said they hope the committee will be responsive to input from people not formally on the board. Schless said she hopes committee members will make themselves regularly available to meet with the public and that the board's meetings will be open, such that students can pose questions and share suggestions.
"My greatest concern with the way it's being set up right now is that they will be in isolation from the presidents, the social chairs, the people who feel personally liable for every person who comes to their house," Schless said. "Each of those nine people needs to realize that they are the voice of another 500 people."
Cunningham and Vernon both said that logistics surrounding the board's meetings will be the responsibility of the Dean of the College's Office.
The presidents of Alpha Delta, Bones Gate and Sigma Nu fraternities declined to comment for this article. The presidents of several other Greek organizations did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
