April 7, 2009

Students Face Off for Undergrad Trustee Spot

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The election to fill Kate Duch’s ’09 undergraduate Student Trustee seat will be held next week. Candidates’ statements will be made public next Tuesday and elections will begin online at 8 a.m. that morning and close at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 16.
Under the University’s charter, one undergraduate and one graduate student from Cornell’s Ithaca campus serve on the board of Trustees. As current student trustees, Mike Walsh grad and Duch serve as members of the trustee nominating committee, which oversees the election, so neither will be endorsing a candidate in this election.
A Sun-moderated panel discussion with the candidates will be held today from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Hall’s Art Gallery.
“I think the current economic climate presents some interesting points of discussion for all the trustee candidates and I’m very much looking forward to sharing in all the diverse and unique perspectives that these students offer,” Walsh said.
Duch is concerned with how the candidates present what each of them would bring to the table in tomorrow’s discussion.
“I would like to hear why the candidates think they are qualified for the position and what they feel they achieve,” Duch said.
What exactly does the position entail?
“I think student trustees have two main responsibilities,” Duch said. “The first is to be an advocate for students during board meetings. The other is to pursue projects and initiatives.”
This year, 11 candidates are vying or the position.
“I am thrilled that 11 candidates are running,” Duch said. “The greater the number of candidates, the greater the publicity for the election.”
During her tenure as Undergraduate Student Trustee, Duch worked with faculty to postpone the publishing of median grades on students’ transcripts. She served on the Collegetown Vision Implementation Committee. According to the City of Ithaca, the Collegetown vision statement is a “guide for shaping the growth and form of Collegetown.” Duch also worked to release the results of course evaluations. The faculty senate of the College of Agriculture and Life Science approved a resolution to release the results of course evaluations last spring, and the Teaching Advisory Committee of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations is currently considering a similar course of action.

The candidates for Student Trustee are:
Andrew White ’12
Asa Craig ’11
Alexander Frieden ’11
Raymond Mensah ’11
Vincent Andrews ’11
Gavrielle Untracht ’11
Maximillian Aggrey ’11
Bill Imperiale ’11
Matthew Goldberg ’11
Andrew Brokman ’11
Eli Luxenberg ’11