Following dissent among the Young Trustee Screening Committee, the Graduate and Professional Student Council elected their president, Ben Shellhorn, as the next graduate Young Trustee.
At their general assembly meeting Tuesday, each candidate gave a five-minute presentation followed by five minutes for questioning by representatives. Shellhorn, a third-year JD/MBA candidate, differentiated himself from other candidates by emphasizing the need for diversity of experience. He beat out fellow candidates Connie Chai, an MBA candidate at the Fuqua School of Business, and Roketa Sloan, a graduate student in the Program in Genetics and Genomics.
“I’m very honored and pleased by the result. We had two other candidates who were very good. I look forward to serving Duke,” Shellhorn said.
Current Graduate Student Young Trustee Shannon O’Connor, a fifth year MD/Ph.D student in biomedical engineering, answered questions about her role on the Board of Trustees. She is the first Young Trustee to serve while still in school.
“I was surprisingly welcome by the Board of Trustees. They’re very excited about the Young Trustee program,” O’Connor said.
The Young Trustee Selection Committee, chaired by fifth year biomedical engineering student Wei Han, received 28 applications, which consisted of an essay, a resume or curriculum vitae and five interesting facts about the applicant.
Nayef Alkhawaldeh—who resigned from the Selection Committee—presented his reasons for leaving his position, saying that the process is not transparent and systematically flawed. The Selection Committee is chosen by GPSC, and GPSC members may apply to become the Young Trustee.
“There is a clear conflict of interest,” Alkhawaldeh, a graduate student of public policy, said.
He said that GPSC has further influence, because the representatives ultimately vote on the three finalists. As a representative herself, Chai was allowed to cast a vote.
“It’s a self-selecting process,” Alkhawaldeh said.
This year, two of the three candidates had ties to GPSC. Last year, all three candidates had served in GPSC in some capacity.
Alkhawaldeh said that in future years, either the screening committee should operate independently of GPSC or members from GPSC should not be allowed to apply.
Han provided a rebuttal to Alkhawaldeh’s concerns. He said that GPSC is not a secretive club, and while simply being a part of GPSC is not a qualification, a candidate’s efforts within the council could be considered a qualification.
“The similar group of people who tend to be involved in student government also tend to run for the position of Young Trustee,” Han said.
Shellhorn is the current president of GPSC, but is also the president of OutLaw, an affinity group for LGBTQ and Ally students. He began his presentation by complimenting the other candidates.
“I’m actually quite nervous about what’s gonna happen,” Shellhorn said.
Shellhorn said that service has always been an important part of his life, and giving back to the University is a continuation of that. He also expressed excitement to work with the Board of Trustees.
“I think this is a great learning opportunity for me to be working with these captains of industry,” Shellhorn said.
Shellhorn mentioned several different experiences—both work-related and volunteer-related—as qualifications for the role of Young Trustee. These range from managing volunteers at the New York City Pride Parade to working for Bain and Company Consulting.
Diversity was a key point of discussion in Shellhorn’s presentation. He said that socioeconomic diversity is a concern in particular, but also said that gains have been made in sexual identity diversity.
When asked what challenges face graduate and professional students, Shellhorn said that careers for PhD students were a primary concern.
“It’s the most salient thing graduates are facing at graduation,” Shellhorn said.
Shellhorn said that the advice he received from Richard Riddell, University Secretary, helped clarify the duties of the Graduate Student Young Trustee.
“You have to be able to speak up, and to put your foot in the ground, and to take a stand,” Shellhorn said.
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