A student committee will contribute to the Corporations Young Alumni Trustee selection process for the first time since the position was created in 2008.

The group of students will critique and augment a list of candidates already considered by the Corporation, said Alex Drechsler 15, who has served on the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Undergraduate Finance Board in previous years.

The Graduate Student Council and the Alpert Medical School Student Council will each nominate one student from their respective schools to join three undergraduates on the committee, which is scheduled to convene after spring break and deliver its recommendations by the Corporations May meeting.

UCS interviewed undergraduate applicants Sunday following an extensive application, said UCS President Maahika Srinivasan 15. One of the most determining factors for this particular selection committee is a good understanding of what the Corporation actually does and what role a Young Alumni Trustee would serve on the Corporation, and that takes a little bit of nuance.

The misperception seems to be that the Corporation is the end all they make all of the decisions and (they are) implemented by the administration but thats not true at all, Srinivasan said. The administration creates the policy and the Corporation is a little bit of a sounding board.

President Christina Paxson P19 confirmed the inclusion of one young alum on the Corporation March 6 and said that the position would reflect student input, Drechsler said. He and Srinivasan presented proposals for increasing student engagement with the Corporation at its February meeting, when Paxson approved a proposed student input process to test run this year.

We are thinking of (this committee) as transitional, and were very open to thinking of other ways, and maybe more involved ways, for students to engage in the selection of the Young Alumni Trustee, Paxson said.

Paxson and Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey 91 MA06, in conjunction with the Governance and Nominations Committee, will review the student committees role after Commencement, Srinivasan said. Srinivasan will debrief with the student committees undergraduates at the end of the process to determine next steps towards permanence and making sure that they felt valued in the process, she added.

In response to student perception that the process of nominating Corporation members is secretive, Carey said that it is an internal process common to many governing boards. With the student committee, the idea is to bring more (student) input into the process, he said, calling it a step in a direction that is engaging and inclusive.

Young alums are selected like any other trustee, Carey said. It is a full Corporation decision, but they rely heavily on the Trustee Vacancies Committee, which develops candidate pools, he added.

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Young Alumni Trustee selection to include students