Students are newest Commission members

Two students will be appointed to the University's Commission for Strengthening the Community, committee chairperson Gloria Chisum said yesterday. The 17-member commission, which was formed without students in June, will evaluate the University's "core community values," including diversity, free speech and civility. In July, several student leaders protested the absence of students on the panel in a letter sent to Chisum and Fagin. Chisum said at the time that students would be involved with the commission this fall, but did not specify in what capacity. This week, Chisum said one graduate student and one undergraduate student will fill commission seats. She said they will be chosen from a list that will be submitted to Fagin in the next two weeks by the Undergraduate Assembly, the United Minorities Council and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly. Fagin and Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson will then decide which two students will fill the commission seats by the next commission meeting later this month. The remaining students on the lists will be put in "working groups" with commission members, Chisum said. While student leaders said they are pleased to be included, some expressed resentment that they did not hold seats on the commission from the beginning. "We shouldn't have had to fight and petition for [positions on the commission]," UMC Chairperson Jun Bang said. "[The commission] especially affects me as UMC chair. Even though the commission's general charge is strengthening the community, they will be dealing with race relations." Chisum said that students were not involved initially because the commission formed in June, when most students were away from campus. "We're working hard now to make students part of the committee," she said. Bang said, however, that she was disappointed that only one undergraduate will have a position on the commission. "[Undergraduates] represent 10,000 people of the University population," she said. "We should have more than one spot [on the commission]." When she interviews the candidates, Fagin said she will look for students who "are willing to speak up" and "accept challenges" in addition to being very knowledgeable about the student body. "They will need to know about the students they will represent," she said. "But the important thing is that they act as generic students, without representing a specific group [on campus] and . . . without [promoting] individual agendas." In addition to the two student positions on the commission, Chisum said that one seat will be held by an A-3 Assembly member and another by an A-1 Assembly member.