A week after A.S. Council first met to appoint the 2010-11 associate vice presidents, one of the three remaining positions is still unfilled — leaving the council to enter next year without a full cabinet of 10 AVPs in charge of managing various aspects of student life.
On May 26, the council voted against appointing A.S. President Wafa Ben Hassine’s nominations for three AVP positions. The nominations of former Campuswide Senator Desiree Prevo for the AVP of Academic Affairs position, and former AVP of Local Affairs Aries Yumul for the AVP of College Affairs position were voted down, while the nomination of Eleanor Roosevelt College sophomore Arohi Sharma for the AVP of Student Advocacy position was tabled.
On June 3, the council approved Prevo and Sharma to temporarily fill the Academic Affairs and Student Advocacy positions, respectively. They will carry out the AVP positions until Week Four of Fall Quarter at which point applications for the position will reopen.
The position of AVP of College Affairs was not discussed and will not be filled until Fall Quarter.
According to Ben Hassine, all three positions were tabled at the Campus Affairs committee meeting, which is held prior to the council meeting. From that, the Academic Affairs and Student Advocacy positions were pulled out of committee to be discussed at the meeting.
Ben Hassine said the positions were tabled — and then voted down — because councilmembers disagreed with the process of choosing members for the selection committee. The selection committee consists of the president, the outgoing AVP and three to four council senators.
“There was little bit of miscommunication that was cleared up with a few individuals,” Ben Hassine said. “A couple of the senators may have felt that the selection process was biased or unfair.”
According to current AVP of Student Advocacy Chris Cruz, councilmembers claimed that Ben Hassine formed the selection committees in a biased manner. They claimed that Ben Hassine never replied to e-mails requesting to serve on the selection committees, which lead to a loaded committee. Ben Hassine claimed the miscommunication was due to the lack of staff, who would have otherwise responded to the requests.
She declined to state the names of the aforementioned councilmembers since the meeting was closed-session, which means councilmembers cannot disclose specifics to the public.
“None of us had staff and [the e-mails were sent] during the transition period,” Ben Hassine said. “That’s why a lot of the e-mails weren’t responded to but, traditionally, that doesn’t really happen.”
Ben Hassine added that disagreements arose over the nominees’ qualifications for the position.
“Many senators felt that a closer evaluation of AVPs’ qualifications was necessary before they’re appointed their respective positions,” Ben Hassine said.
For example, Sharma said councilmembers preferred another candidate for the Student Advocacy position.
The council will reevaluate AVP applicants when the application period reopens during Week Four of Fall Quarter.
Readers can contact Regina Ip at rwip@ucsd.edu.
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