ASPIRING Cavaliers recently received the University's admissions decisions for the Class of 2012. Upon enrolling next August, nearly 3,000 of these accepted students will be greeted with the opportunity to make a difference at the University by serving on a Student Council committee. Before doing so, however, they will have to complete yet another application. Far too many CIOs use applications and/or interviews to "select" their members. Unlike most of these organizations, however, Student Council's centralized common application process is an encouraging development in the saga of student self-governance. Although there are pitfalls with such a process, on the whole an application process will increase committee efficacy and student involvement.
As John Nelson, Student Council vice president for administration, explains, Council has never used a centralized committee selection process. Nelson notes that in the past, "some committees had applications, but most didn't." Committee chairs were completely in charge of selecting their memberships, and most chairs recruited from CIOs and social circles they were affiliated with. Membership diversity no doubt suffered, as like-minded students came together and made decisions affecting the entire student body. A "representative" Council that does not reflect the demographic characteristics of its constituency has no hope of being an effective governing body.
According to Nelson, lack of awareness among the student body is a major impediment to recruiting new members. In the past, the membership of some committees has consisted only of Council representatives, for example. The centralized application process, which has been widely publicized to major CIOs, hopes to attract a more diverse and ambitious membership. Specifically, Nelson has two main goals with the application process.
First, he hopes completing an application will give students a sense of direct involvement and ownership in Student Council. He believes students will "take their commitment to serve on a committee more seriously if they complete an application." Secondly, Nelson foresees the application process greatly aiding Council's internal administration. He notes that previously, no central list of committee members existed, and Council leadership never knew how many people served on each committee. Through the application process, Nelson plans to create a central database containing members' contact information, names and committee affiliation.
Two potential problems emerge with this application process. First, some applicants may be turned down. Nelson explains that the applications are not meant to be restrictive, but concedes that "people may not be selected to serve on a committee if we receive hundreds of applications." Although committee sizes should not become too large, Student Council leaders should strive to include anyone with demonstrated interest, as shown by their completing an application. Council is what the students make of it and to exclude students from it is unacceptable.
Additionally, as with many political processes, much room is left for patronage and favoritism. Committee chairs tasked with selecting their memberships can easily choose cronies and personal friends over more enthusiastic strangers. Although no control apparatus is planned, Student Council leadership must keep a close eye over the selection process to insure no one receives more than due consideration. Committee chairs who select only people they know well and get along with will perpetuate the insular and ineffective track record of Council committees. Memberships must be diverse and open to new voices. Otherwise, little change will occur.
While a strong believer in the benefits of the free market, I must concede that it hasn't worked for Council in the past. Tasking committee chairs with recruitment and retention resulted in stale, unrepresentative memberships. This contributed to the perception of Student Council as a sprawling bureaucracy that is incapable of governing itself, much less the University overall. These problems are addressed by the unbiased and well-publicized application process, which will result in more awareness of and direct involvement in Council committees. Likewise, the decision to implement an application process and database of committee members will aid internal Student Council governance, and more importantly, make committees more stable and energized. Council's leaders have done all they can to reform the broken system they inherited. It's now up to us as students to show a sense of ownership and become involved in the process of improvement.
James Rogers is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at jrogers@cavalierdaily.com
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