Duke Student Government’s decision last Fall to select the Young Trustee through a general body election has drawn more attention to the process.
Incorporating an election into the Young Trustee process might change the applicant pool, said DSG Executive Vice President Gregory Morrison, a junior.
“I think that there are folks who would be good Young Trustees but who are not interested in running an election,” Morrison said. “I suspect that there will also be the kind of people who will come out and say, ‘Oh, well it’s up to the students and I know a lot of students, and it’s ultimately up to them, so I would be happy to be in this process now.’”
Morrison added that he expects more underclassmen to apply for Young Trustee because many freshmen and sophomore senators were active in crafting last semester’s legislation. Applications for the position are due by 8 p.m. tonight.
He predicted that the number of Young Trustee applicants, however, will be similar to previous years. Fourteen students applied for the position last year, and 16 students applied in both 2007 and 2008.
“There are many new people who may be attracted by the idea of having an election, but there would equally be some folks who are turned off by the idea of having an election,” Morrison said. “I suspect that the number will be about the same.”
Applications for the six at-large members of the Young Trustee Nominating Committee, which will select three Young Trustee finalists, were due at midnight Tuesday. Junior Will Passo, DSG vice president for Durham and regional affairs and chair of the Senate committee selecting the at-large students, said 11 students applied for the positions. He said he is satisfied with the number of applicants.
“I didn’t think anyone would do it because I don’t think people really care, and the actual nominating committee is a huge commitment,” Passo said.
He added that he wants students who are less prominent on campus to sit on the YTNC. Passo said his committee will meet Sunday to discuss the applicants.
“The people we pick might not necessarily have the highest GPAs but rather would come from different areas of campus, which I think is really important,” Passo said. “I don’t want it to be the same old, same old people on the committee.”
Six students joined the YTNC in the last month: Seniors Ankit Prasad, Engineering Student Government executive president, Eric Kaufman, Interfraternity Council president, and Erika Manderscheid, Panhellenic Association president; and juniors Priya Bhat, First-Year Student Advisory Counselor Board co-chair, Stephen Temple, Campus Council president, and Will Benesh, Duke University Union vice president of external affairs. The YTNC will consist of 18 students once the six at-large members are chosen this weekend.
Senior Meg Foran, who chairs the group of student leaders formerly known as the Intercommunity Council, wrote in an e-mail that she communicated with members of the group and with other organization presidents eligible to be on the nominating committee as well as the six students who volunteered for the positions. She added that other presidents expressed interest in joining, but did not ultimately participate as a result of schedule conflicts.
Both the at-large YTNC and the Young Trustee positions were publicized in two e-mails to the student body. A Dec. 7 DSG blast e-mail included a link to the applications posted on the DSG Web site, and the Office of Student Activities and Facilities included a link to DSG’s homepage in its blast Dec. 17.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.