Six groups snag spots on U. Council

Student leaders have selected six campus groups to present their views to top administrators in the coming school year.

The Nominations and Elections Committee, which governs the selection process for student groups on the University Council, chose six major student organizations to serve on the body following an interview process last weekend. The UC is an advisory group of students, professors and administrators that meets monthly to discuss campus issues.

The selections, announced on Saturday, were the Latino Coalition, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, the Civic House Associates Coalition, the Lambda Alliance, Umoja and Programs in Religious, Interfaith, and Spirituality Matters.

The Undergraduate Assembly gave the NEC six council seats to allot to "mis- and under-represented groups" this year in the wake of criticism last spring. Several groups had criticized a lack of transparency in the seat-selection process. Others had felt that several of the groups selected were not sufficiently mis- or under-represented to justify a seat on the council.

As a result of the controversy, the number of seats allocated by the NEC increased to six from five.

The NEC has also taken measures to make the process "transparent to everyone," NEC Chairman and College senior David Diesenhouse said.

In order to increase the transparency of the selection process, a UA member oversaw the NEC's interviewing of groups, discussion and voting. The NEC also published documents outlining why each student group was chosen for a council seat this year.

Groups were given 48 hours after the end of last weekend's interviews to file a complaint if they felt any part of the process was biased. None were filed.

"Ultimately, the changes to the process didn't change a lot of what we do," Deisenhouse said. It "ensures that it will be conducted in a fair manner."

Many of the groups agreed that changes succeeded in making the process fairer.

"The NEC did a very good job of clearly outlining what their process was," College junior and APSC Chairwoman Mana Nakagawa said. "Everyone knew exactly what was being done."

The UA passed the slate of selected groups last night. However, some members voiced concern over groups that were not selected: the Panhellenic Council, which held a seat last year, the InterFraternity Council and the South Asia Society.

"Greek groups are misrepresented in the eyes of the administrators," UA member and College senior Andrew Roach said.

All of the selected groups were chosen because they didn't have ample access to administrators, Diesenhouse said.

And University President Amy Gutmann said she was happy that students themselves selected who should sit on the council.

"It is very important, from my perspective, that [the UC seat allocation process] is a student driven process with a student-driven outcome," she said.

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