In a March 1 meeting, several students connected with Duke Student Government and the Intercommunity Council met to discuss possible revisions to the by-laws governing the young trustee selection process.
The meeting, organized by Trinity junior and West Campus Legislator Matt Ameika, was attended by several past and current members of the ICC, along with several other DSG legislators.
Although the process discussed at the meeting is one ultimately supervised and carried out by the DSG vice president for community interaction, Trinity junior Trang Nguyen, who currently holds that position and is also a candidate for DSG president, was not present at the meeting.
In an interview Sunday night, Nguyen said that although Ameika invited her to attend the meeting, she had informed him that the meeting's timing and the general discussion of the topic conflicted with the DSG campaign period. She added that she informed Ameika that she felt her contributions to the process, given her position, were essential, but that he insisted that the meeting not be rescheduled.
"Obviously I'm very interested in the process and my input is necessary because I'm the chair of the committee," Nguyen said. "I assured [Ameika] that the issue is important enough that it can wait and that something like this should not be rushed."
Ameika said that simply because Nguyen was not in attendance does not mean that her input will not be included. He added that he wanted to bring a proposal before the legislature while the process is still fresh in its members' minds.
Trinity sophomore and West Campus Legislator Eric Weisman, who was invited but was also unable to attend the meeting due to conflicts with his campaign for vice president for academic affairs, said that it was also unclear to him exactly why the legislation was being rushed.
Trinity sophomore Brett Goldberg, West Campus legislator, who attended the meeting, said that those present expressed concern that the current process allows for possible bias, either positive or negative, on the part of legislators for a finalist who holds a position within DSG (see related story, page 1).
He added that another concern was that many legislators did not devote the necessary repect due such an important process and therefore may not have been as informed about each finalist as they should have been before casting their votes.
These concerns echo those raised in the spring of 1994, when a 247-signature student petition was presented to the Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees at their February meeting, requesting that the DSG legislature be removed from playing a role in the young trustee selection process. In December 1994, the DSG legislature passed a revised set of by-laws governing the process that allowed the legislature to maintain their involvement in the final vote, along with the Executive Committee of the ICC.
As a result of the meeting on Saturday and several subsequent conversations with those present, Ameika, Goldberg and Weisman-along with Trinity sophomore Maya Corey, Central Campus legislator-plan to present a proposed amendment to the DSG legislature at the March 5 general body meeting.
The proposal submitted to Trinity sophomore Sarah Mitchell, DSG executive vice president, also contains the signatures of Trinity senior Randy Fink, Trinity junior Lino Marrero and Trinity sophomore Puneet Sapra, president of Diya, the South Asian Association, although none of them may officially sponsor proposed legislation before the DSG legislature.
The suggested changes to the by-laws governing the young trustee selection process include a dramatic shift in the responsibility of the Executive Committee of the ICC and of the DSG legislature.
The proposal calls for the establishment of a DSG standing committee separate from the ICC Executive Committee called the "Young Trustee Committee," whose nine voting members would be elected by the DSG legislature in much the same manner as members of the Student Organizations Finance Committee are currently elected.
The remaining non-voting positions on the new 13-member committee would include the SOFC chair and DSG president pro-tempore to act as representatives of the DSG legislature, the DSG chief justice to act as vice-chair of the committee and the vice president of community interaction for DSG to serve as chair.
Under the proposed revisions to the selection process, the ICC Executive Committee would choose three finalists in the same manner in which they do currently, but the names of those finalists would be forwarded to the Young Trustee Committee instead of to the DSG legislature. The Young Trustee Committee would then select its top choice from among the three finalists and forward that name to the legislature and the ICC Executive Committee for a final vote of approval.
In the event that the legislature and ICC Executive Committee vote down the nominee, the Young Trustee Committee would reconvene to nominate a second candidate.
Though Ameika declined to comment specifically on the proposal until it is presented to the legislature, he did describe the group's general motivations.
"In submitting this amendment, we advocate specific changes designed to increase the accountability of the process to the student body," Ameika said. "We recognize more fully the Executive Committee of the ICC's work in selecting the young trustee and we introduce a framework to create a more informed selection process."
Weisman said that although he signed the proposed legislation because he feels the current process needs examination and change, the amendment merits significant debate and revision. "I'm still concerned that it may centralize the power too much, but it does open up the process to students outside of DSG," he said.
Other proposed changes include the insertion of new language into the by-law addressing issues of confidentiality and the responsibility or mission of those students involved in the process.
While the rules of confidentiality are delineated specifically in the proposal, the amendment also contains an explanation of the legislative intent of maintaining that confidentiality.
"The selection process should be confidential to protect candidates, specifically the candidates not chosen but also those chosen, from harassment and unnecessary publicity," the proposal states.
The proposed amendment also defines guidelines for how members of the ICC Executive Committee should conduct themselves during the process. The proposal states that "members of the ICC Executive Committee, for this process, should consider themselves as independent from their position as a student leader and beholden only to the ICC Executive Committee. The members of this committee are chosen more for their knowledge of, and first-hand experience with, various aspects of the University and its community than for their representativeness of particular student constituencies."
Although the proposed by-law amendment will be introduced to the legislature Wednesday, the legislation will be subject to a two-week reading period before it can be brought to the floor for a vote.
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