Premjee was selected for the job after a "couple of weeks" of consideration by Yoeli, Sankar and MIAC following Sankar's announcement that she would return home to Ridgefield, Conn., and would travel to India due to "personal reasons," Yoeli said. Yoeli and Sankar were elected on April 15.
Harry Enten '11, the former chair of the Election Planning and Advisory Committee, said this appointment process was the most efficient and democratic way to select an interim vice president. Another full election process would be prohibitively difficult, according to Enten.
"That's not only time-consuming, also it's man-power consuming, and this seems to me to be a perfectly legitimate option," Enten said.
Premjee is fully qualified for the position despite being a first-year student, Yoeli said.
"For such a temporary role with only a few weeks remaining in the term, Rohail has more institutional knowledge about General Assembly than almost anybody else," Yoeli said. "That supersedes his class year in my mind."
Premjee said his main activity for the remainder of the term will be "laying the foundation" for the Assembly next year. He will then largely focus on appointing the Assembly's committee chairs, he said.
As interim vice president, Premjee will help implement the new committee structure announced in the General Assembly meeting on Tuesday. The structure is similar to last year's, except that it will exclude the "redundant" accessibility and sustainability committees. Instead, Assembly representatives will join existing student task forces, Yoeli said during the meeting.
Premjee said he has been in contact with Sankar via email about every major policy item he has considered, and he will stay in contact with her for the remainder of the term.
"Anything that's big and important I have been in constant contact with her about," Premjee said.
Premjee has been an active member of the Assembly this year, serving as co-speaker, a 2014 Cluster Representative, an elected member of MIAC and Undergraduate Finance Committee representative, according to an Assembly press release.
Assembly speaker Nick Judson '14, who previously shared the title with Premjee, will assume full speaker responsibilities as Premjee transitions to the role of vice president. While Judson previously focused on the Assembly's Internet presence, he will now also work directly on the Assembly's print media, according to Judson. Premjee will continue to help with the speaker's duties, Judson said.
"It's not a huge change to the position," Judson said.
Judson is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
Judson said he is confident that Rohail can handle the added responsibilities of being the acting student body vice president.
"Rohail is an exception," Judson said. "He came to Dartmouth knowing a lot more about it than many students do currently."
