Knight talks campaign, goals for Young Trustee term

Senior Anna Knight was elected by the student body last week to be the next Young Trustee.
Senior Anna Knight was elected by the student body last week to be the next Young Trustee.

With her election as the newest Young Trustee less than a week behind her, senior Anna Knight has already begun planning goals for her time on the Board of Trustees. When her term begins, Knight will be the only female undergraduate Young Trustee on the Board. As a non-voting member for one of her three years, she follows Chris Brown, Trinity '13, and Neil Kondamuri, Trinity '14, as they act as full-voting members. The Chronicle's Sydney Sarachek sat down with Knight to discuss what she hopes to accomplish now that she has been elected.

The Chronicle: What do you think it means that you are the first Panhellenic woman and the first engineer elected to the position?

Anna Knight: I’m really excited to bring a new voice to the board. I think it will be nice to have the opportunity to advocate for groups that have never been represented in the board room before. From what I know by talking to the previous Young Trustees, the Trustees themselves are very cognizant of what they know and what they don’t know—that’s why they often bring in outside people to advise them about things, and so I’m excited to be there to provide an undergraduate perspective on different matters.

"I am not a politician by nature. I am definitely an engineering student first."

TC: Ultimately, you are one voice out of 36. How do you hope to have an impact as Young Trustee?

AK: I’m well aware that there are 35 other people on the board. I’m very realist on that account. I’m not going to change the world. I’m not going to get rid of construction. I think the biggest thing is that there are two young trustees nominated in previous years. I’ve already reached out to Neil about what current issues Neil and Chris have been facing in advocating for the undergraduate voice and how I can help with those and bring in a new perspective. Yes, I am very aware that when it comes down it I am only one of 36. But I think that the Board of Trustees members are incredibly interested in the undergraduate experience so they do listen to what the Young Trustee says. And while I am just one voice out of 36, I am one of three undergraduate voices, so I hope that my voice will bring something new to the table.

TC: What issue is most important to you as Young Trustee?

AK: I think it’s really important that if Duke markets itself globally as an undergraduate research institution, we make sure we preserve those undergraduate research positions here—whether they are paid and unpaid. And that applies not only to the sciences but also to the humanities. 2013 wasn’t that long ago in terms of Duke’s financial budget cuts, and making sure that any undergraduate jobs that were squeezed out in that are recovered for, and we make sure that doesn’t happen again.

TC: Now that the campaign process is over, what can you say about it?

AK: I am not a politician by nature. I am definitely an engineering student first. This whole campaign thing was kind of a fish out of water for me. It was a little overwhelming to be honest. I think Nikolai [Doytchinov] and David [Robertson] did incredibly well and as we went along, they taught me how to campaign. From our first endorsement meeting to our last, I got a lot better at expressing myself. I’ve learned a lot about campaigning.

TC: What was your favorite part of the election process?

While I am just one voice out of 36, I am one of three undergraduate voices, so I hope that my voice will bring something new to the table."

AK: But one of the coolest things about this election process is getting to meet so many people. I didn’t know until I went campaigning and talking to people that the Hindu Student Association meets in a prayer room that is in a room under the Bryan Center Greenhouse. I was so excited to see all of these parts of Duke that I had not been exposed to before my campaign. Also just to meet so many different, diverse opinions and there are so many amazing students I got to talk to. I’m excited to synthesize all of that and bring it to the board.

TC: What is the first thing you want to do moving forward?

AK: I think one of the other things I want to do soon is to reach out to the groups that endorsed other candidates—for whatever reason, and I’m sure they had absolutely legitimate reasons for doing so because David [Robertson] and Nikolai [Doytchinov] were amazing campus leaders as well, but I want to reach out to them to understand what their concerns were and what I can do to represent their voice with the board better—so they don’t feel like they don’t have a voice on the board.

TC: If you could tell readers one thing about yourself, what would it be?

AK: I want to emphasize how accessible I hope to be with the student body. I really want people to reach out to me if they have concerns—students can always email me. One of the things I emphasized in my campaign is how I am going to be on campus for the next six years. I want to make sure I am connected with people, and not just focused on Board of Trustees stuff just for the time of those meetings. I want it to be a more ongoing thing.

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