In its weekly meeting last night, Duke Student Government elected Trinity senior Chris Lam to the position of young trustee.
"I am certainly very humbled to have been elected by our students to represent the University," Lam said after the DSG meeting. "I look forward to fulfilling the duties over the next three years."
Lam's appointment is the culmination of a lengthy selection process that began at the beginning of this semester. Out of the 15 people who applied for the position, the Inter-Community Council chose three finalists-Lam, Trinity senior Sam Cheung and engineering senior Damian Dolland.
The ICC then forwarded the three final candidates to DSG. Last night, the three candidates spoke before and answered questions from a joint DSG-ICC meeting, after which the two groups jointly elected Lam young trustee. This past Monday night, the three candidates had addressed individual DSG committees at their weekly meetings.
During yesterday's meeting, DSG and ICC members listened to short speeches by each of the three candidates and had the opportunity to ask questions before voting for young trustee.
In his four-minute speech, Lam focused on his extensive knowledge of University issues. As part of his tenure on both the Upperclass Residential Planning Group and the Board of Trustee's Student Affairs Committee, Lam said he has already earned the respect of board members. "I am the only candidate with Board of Trustees experience," he said.
Lam also addressed student concerns that as founder of the Independent Students Association he would not represent the interests of all students when giving the board input on the residential housing debate. He said that in his committee work on the board thus far, he has "taken into account the different options that students want to have."
Cheung and Dolland both emphasized the importance of community and diversity.
Cheung said he strongly supported the Black Faculty Initiative. "From what I've seen as a student, the most critical issue [facing the University] is redefining what we mean by community at Duke," he said during the question session. He stressed the importance of including undergraduate students, graduate students, employees and the larger Durham community in that initiative.
In his speech, Dolland stressed the need for University policies to encourage diversity. "The time has come for the issue of diversity to become tangible policies," he said. "Once students understand the value of diversity, they will have more initiative to interact with members of the Durham community."
The three-year-long young trustee position was created by former University President Terry Sanford to allow for the influence of a fresh student perspective on the Board of Trustees. Lam will replace Sarah Dodds, whose term expires this May.
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