The Undergraduate Council of Students has been hampered by disorganization this semester in appointing students to fill vacancies on University committees, frustrating some student applicants and causing concern among former UCS members.
The appointments process for spots on the Public Safety Oversight Committee and the University Resources Committee were marked by short application periods, limited or no advertising of the open positions and different standards for evaluating candidates - processes not in line with the UCS code or past practices. Many of those interviewed said their e-mails to the UCS appointments chair, Drew Madden '10, were frequently not returned and their inquiries or concerns were ignored.
This semester, UCS oversaw the appointment processes for vacancies on the PSOC, University Resources Committee, Computing Advisory Board and, most recently, the Task Force on Undergraduate Education. The upcoming spring appointments process will fill vacancies on several other important University committees, including the Brown University Community Council and the College Curriculum Council.
Mike Williams '08, who has served on the URC for one year, said he was surprised to see the campus-wide e-mail sent the afternoon of Jan. 29 announcing the vacancy on the committee and asking for applications due just two days later. The same e-mail also announced vacancies on the PSOC and the Computing Advisory Board. He said he contacted Madden by e-mail and urged him to prolong the application period. His e-mails to Madden, he said, were not returned.
"This is a two-year appointment," Williams told The Herald. "You have to give people more time to think about something like this."
Williams added that he wasn't contacted by Madden or any other UCS member before applications were solicited, even though, as one of the two students currently serving on the URC, he was required to sit on UCS's interviewing panel.
Madden told The Herald that extending the application period was considered by UCS's executive board, but that "we were attempting - it didn't work perfectly - to get the appointments in sooner rather than later."
Perhaps because of the short application period, Williams said, there were seven applications to the URC in total, down from what he said was more than 20 when he applied to the committee a year ago. Former UCS Vice President Zachary Townsend '09, a former Herald Opinions columnist, was selected from among three finalists interviewed.
Like the URC, the PSOC positions had an application period of just two days.
Sriram Subramanian '10, who applied unsuccessfully to the PSOC, said while he was not upset with the decision, he was annoyed that he was not told the result. He said he waited two to three weeks after turning in his application before inquiring as to the status of his application. He confronted Madden in person three separate times, he said, and was told - the third time - that he hadn't gotten the position.
"I didn't even get a reply from (UCS)," Subramanian said. "I had to force a reply out of them, and that took me almost a month and a half."
Another applicant to the PSOC, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he said he may apply to a committee through UCS in the future, said he sent several e-mails to Madden that were unreturned and was frustrated by Madden's "complete unresponsiveness."
Madden told The Herald he thought he had "fairly good communication" with applicants - though there were e-mails he "missed" because they were mixed in with his personal e-mails, so when notifying PSOC applicants he "could have skipped over an e-mail address by accident."
"It's highly possible I made a mistake somewhere," he said.
The same applicant added that, given the sensitive nature of the PSOC's work, he found the lack of an interview process "unnerving."
Madden said he chose not to conduct interviews because two of the six applicants "came to the forefront as the most qualified," and interviews did not seem necessary.
According to the Web site of the Department of Public Safety, the PSOC deals with information concerning DPS practices and policies, including policies governing the use of force. The PSOC also prepares an annual report on complaint activity for the preceding year and makes policy recommendations "where necessary and appropriate." Last semester the committee reviewed an investigation into an alleged incident of police brutality.
Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter, who serves as an ex-officio member of the PSOC, said he urged UCS to select applicants who "reflect the diversity of Brown undergraduate students."
While the UCS code does not require that UCS's appointments committee conduct interviews for "ad hoc committees," a definition which still includes the PSOC, former UCS Appointments Chair Benjamin Boas '06.5 told The Herald that he found interviews useful for choosing the right candidate.
"The majority of someone's work on a committee is to sit and talk," said Boas, who served on several University committees including Residential Council and the PSOC and now works at the University as an assistant to the chief of police. "You have to speak up. You have to interrupt if you feel you're not getting your say. And an interview tests that. The application doesn't."
Madden said he supports conducting interviews for ad hoc committees in principle and that "it's been a matter of time restraints and personnel."
An applicant to the URC, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he still deals with UCS, complained that there was a delay of five weeks between when the applications were due and when interviews were conducted.
Madden said the delay was due to "a lot of things we had to do getting ready administratively" for the semester, including plans for the appointment process for the Task Force on Undergraduate Education.
But the URC applicant said he was asked by e-mail of his availability the next day to interview, even though the UCS code says sign-up sheets must be posted at least a week before the scheduled interviews.
In addition to short application periods, the process has been affected by limited advertising, as campus-wide e-mails constitute most or all of the publicity campaign.
UCS Vice President Tristan Freeman '07 said the UCS executive board had agreed that campus-wide e-mails were an effective form of communication and that they would form the "basis of communications."
"Obviously there are things that we can do differently," he said, "but I think that as a whole we've done a pretty good job at getting the word out there."
The exception to this semester's problematic processes was the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, which was heavily advertised on promotional TV screens, Facebook and the Daily Jolt through a campaign coordinated by UCS Academic and Administrative Affairs Chair Sara Damiano '08, who assisted Madden with the appointment process. The task force received 30 student applicants, half of whom were interviewed.
At last week's UCS general body meeting, Madden introduced a code change that would change his position from an internally elected position to a position voted on by the student body.
Madden told The Herald the idea was brought up in a meeting of the executive board. "It was something that was in the back of my mind all year long," he said, adding he still hadn't decided himself if he supported the code change.
Freeman emphasized the collaborative nature of decision-making on UCS, saying "most of the decisions that the (executive board) makes are made by consensus."
He added that the executive board members "usually try to keep every application period open as long as we can," but that, with many appointments to fill, "sometimes it's more difficult to juggle."
