article updated at 7:16 a.m. Thursday
Three seniors have been named as finalists in the race for a position on the Board of Trustees.
The Young Trustee Nominating Committee selected seniors Kaveh Danesh, Michael Mandl and Olly Wilson from a pool of seven applicants—the smallest number of applicants in five years. The YTNC treated all seven applicants as semifinalists and went straight into interviews to decide finalists because Young Trustee bylaw requires at least eight semifinalists. The decrease in the number of applications did not, however, decrease the quality of candidates, said YTNC Chair Samantha Lachman, a junior.
“We interviewed all of the candidates as if they were semifinalists, because they essentially were,” Lachman said. “The committee is very confident in the three finalists, and it was a substantive and well-reasoned out conversation about their qualifications.”
The Young Trustee serves as a three-year term on the Board, with one year as a non-voting member and two as a voting member. Annually, one undergraduate and one graduate student are each elected as a Young Trustee. The finalists for the graduate Young Trustee are selected by the Graduate and Professional Student Council’s Young Trustee Screening Committee.
The undergraduate Young Trustee bylaw outlines specific qualities that the nominating committee looks for in the semi-finalists’ applications and interviews. The bylaw states that the Young Trustee should be able to speak up in intimidating situations while recognizing when and how to offer evidence demonstrating good character. The committee looked for these qualities during the selection process, Lachman said.
“The committee assessed qualities including having a breadth of experience on campus, the ability to articulate their experiences when talking to the Board of Trustees, having an understanding of their role as only speaking to their experience as an undergraduate and not pursuing their own agenda, having an active interest in improving the undergraduate experience at Duke and having a commitment to Duke as an institution,” she said.
The finalists demonstrated an understanding of the position and qualities required for a Young Trustee in their written applications, which questioned applicants’ perceptions of the role.
Danesh recognized the limitations of a young Board member in his application but also acknowledged the unique perspective of the Young Trustee.
“Instead, the Young Trustee listens carefully and offers insights when the conversation meets his or her area of expertise: the live, current Duke, the Duke whose future is at stake, the Duke that is being decided,” Danesh wrote.
Mandl noted that the Young Trustee acts for the entirety of the Duke community.
“They must also be able to articulate a familiarity with undergraduate life and clearly express the impact each strategic decision will have on the daily experience of the students here,” he said.
Wilson discussed the importance of a Young Trustee avoiding self-interests in his application.
“The Young Trustee must not come into the position with a partisan agenda, but instead must be prepared to function as a fully-fledged and informed Board member who must weigh legitimate and often competing interests on behalf of Duke as a whole,” he wrote.
The Board of Elections will present to Duke Student Government Wednesday, where the Senate will decide to hold the election either Feb. 10 or Feb. 13. The Young Trustee finalists may begin campaigning Jan. 30.
DSG Chief Justice Matt Straus, a senior, said he received a complaint from one of the semifinalists concerning an alleged violation of the YTNC bylaw. Senior Ubong Akpaninyie, director of multicultural outreach and affairs, who was a semifinalist for Young Trustee, filed the official complaint at approximately 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Straus said that Akpaninyie believes there was a violation of the bylaw, stating that an information session for semifinalists to ask more specific questions—mandated by article three of the bylaw—did not happen.
Straus added that the DSG Judiciary will likely meet Wednesday night to address the complaint.
Until the judiciary convenes, the YTNC decision stands, Straus said.
The Semifinalists: Seniors Ubong Akpaninyie, Kaveh Danesh*, Michael Mandl*, Timothy Schulte, Daniel Tweed-Kent, Oliver Wilson* and Alice Yen.
*denotes finalists
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