In one of the last acts of the former COLA selection committee, sophomores Saul Garlick, Abby Gibbons and Ashlyn Schniederjans were selected co-chair the 2004 Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium, and the trio is now looking at a theme of "Rebuilding America: Peace and Prosperity at What Price? A symposium on a struggling domestic legitimacy."
At next Wednesday's Student Council (StuCo) meeting, the three sophomores are expected to be officially installed as next year's MSE co-chairs. All three were staff members of the 2003 MSE symposium. Work on planning and organizing next year's symposium has already begun despite the delay in confirmation by StuCo.
The StuCo confirmation is the end of months of preparation and competition. One of last year's co-chairs, senior Feroze Sidhwa explained the process."The Selection of the next year's co-chairs begins two weeks after the final symposium speaker event of the year before."
Applicants must create a written proposal, typically of 40 to 50 pages, which is followed up by an interview. The co-chairs are responsible for raising money for the symposium, bringing speakers to campus, and publicizing these events. This year, two sets of three Hopkins undergraduates submitted proposals for review to the Committee on Leadership Appointments (COLA).
COLA is responsible for the nomination of a group to be the next MSE co-chairs. Before the bylaw changes were passed, COLA was compromised of four StuCo members, one from each grade level. A chairman was picked to lead the group, but would only vote in the case of a tie.
The final selection of the co-chairs is left to a vote by the entire Student Council. COLA's decision is based on a combination of the proposals and interviews that applicants submit. Notably, this year's selection process was marked by controversy.
Due to the upheaval caused by the changing bylaws of StuCo, some applicants were left puzzled by the rules of the selection process. Junior Eric Wolkoff was one member of a group not chosen as the 2004 co-chair nominees.
He was previously involved in the MSE by helping to bring Ann Coulter as a speaker last fall. "I believe the process was somewhat dishonest this year," he said. Wolkoff was particularly puzzled by COLA's decision to allow the past year's MSE co-chairs to remain after the interviews were complete and to participate in active discussion about the applicants.
This action was in violation of the old COLA rules that Wolkoff believed to be in effect. The previous year's MSE co-chairs are invited to sit in on the COLA interviews but are non-voting members. He believes the entire process has to be clarified in the future so that all applicants are abiding to the same set of rules. "We tried to be diligent in following all of the old COLA rules to a "T.' However there was a lot of confusion," he said.
Garlick believes that this is a fair way to judge the merits of the applicants. "I support the way the selection worked," he said. "You're chosen by a group of your peers and that's how it should be."
Sidhwa echoes the belief that COLA is a valuable part of the selection process. "COLA is practical. It functions," he said. "Sometimes there can be problems with students nominating students. But this works out well for Hopkins because it gives students responsibility for each other."
The entire process for the 2004 MSE co-chairs was delayed briefly due to the same bylaw changes. Groups were forced to wait an additional week before interviewing with COLA.
Due to this delay there was no StuCo meeting scheduled between COLA's nomination and Intersession, so the three candidates are eagerly awaiting next week's StuCo confirmation process.
Despite being set behind by this, work has begun on the 2004 symposium. Garlick reports they are looking to present a balanced diversity of speakers- men and women, Democrats and Republicans.
Schniederjans explains how this theme was chosen. "Each year a theme of national importance is presented. We started with ten potential ideas to submit, and we just all gravitated towards this," he said.
Subtopics of the symposium include welfare, healthcare and a focus on what the next White House administration's domestic policy will be. Gibbon is most excited about the topic of faith-based initiatives. "It's a new office under the President, and I hope that we can teach the community more about it's purpose and impact on us," he said.
Now the three nominees for co-chair are working on recruiting others to join the 2004 MSE symposium staff. Gibbons believes this is a wonderful opportunity. "It's fun-you get to meet new people on campus, network with others, and meet the famous speakers we have." Galick cautions that joining the staff also involves lost of commitment. "We're looking for people willing to work 3-5 hours a week this semester, and even more in the semester after that. But it's going to be a hell of a good team," he said.
More information and applications are available at http://www.jhu.edu.
