After several Thurgood Marshall College councilmembers
criticized Marshall Provost Allan Havis for allegedly cutting corners in
choosing the search committee to replace an outgoing dean, Havis authorized a
student subcommittee last week that will appoint a third undergraduate
representative to the contentious selection panel.
One week after Marshall Dean of Student Affairs Ashanti
Hands left UCSD on Jan. 11, Havis met with a group of TMCC members to justify
his selection of the two student representatives on the search committee that will field candidates to replace her.
The councilmembers accused Havis of bypassing standard application and
interview processes with his selection, saying that excluding the student body
from the process was detrimental to the committee’s purpose.
Havis responded by greenlighting an additional subcommittee
that will elect a third student representative to the selection board, which
consists primarily of staff and faculty from the six colleges.
The two students on the current search committee are TMCC
Chair Lana Blank and
senior Prince Ghuman, an intern at the dean’s office. While some councilmembers
said they anticipated Blank’s appointment due to her council position, they
expressed concern over the addition of Ghuman, who was chosen after a Marshall
dean recommended him for the position.
“We wanted a person of the
students at large so that they could represent the student perspective,” said
Kyle Samia, A.S. Council Marshall senator. “For Prince Ghuman to work in the
student dean’s office and to get this privilege is unfair. Just because he
works in the dean’s office doesn’t make him more invested in
chairs.”
The council was initially concerned because such committee
appointments are usually done in a more democratic manner, Blank said.
“We were frustrated because normally appointments go through
a group selected of students,” she said. “There was no application process or
interview conducted. It was not a process that we felt was democratic since
committee selection was made by the administration and not the students.”
Havis, however, called the decision process routine.
“We’re just following and adhering to searches of other
colleges,” he said. “It’s the same protocol. There’s nothing unusual
happening.”
He defended the current group against the council’s
criticisms, saying that he is confident in its ability to select a qualified
dean.
“Selecting search committee members for a staff appointment
can never satisfy all interested,” Havis said. “But we do feel this is a
diverse group representative of many perspectives, and we are encouraged about
the energy that this search committee is bringing to this project.”
However, Samia said Havis neglected to inform
students that Hands would even be leaving. In addition, he said similar
appointments are typically made after the council has been contacted.
“In my personal opinion, the provost should have told us
what was happening, and we would have been able to appoint a student, but he
didn’t do that,” Samia said. “And because of the fucked-up problems that
happened, Marshall Council has to be more reactive. He almost overstepped the
normal way the thing is done.”
While the subcommittee’s creation represents an understanding
between Havis and the council, some councilmembers still express concern that
the body — headed by A.S. Associate Vice President of Student Advocacy Neetu
Balram — will only have a nominal role in the ultimate selection process. The
third student representative, selected by the student subcommittee, is only
allowed to participate in table discussions after the general search committee
has reduced its applicant pool to three candidates.
“I originally didn’t know how input from [the student subcommittee]
was going to translate to the general committee,” Blank said. “There’s no
guarantee of what the third representative says has any bearing. The fact that
they only work with the top three candidates is only putting power in the hands
of the original committee.”
Havis said he disagreed, contending that the third student
representative would have “a significant bearing” on the process, despite the
fact that he or she will only participate on the last day of the general
committee’s deliberations.
“I feel positive that we will have an insightful, wise,
comprehensive, diverse search process utilizing and integrating many important
components and perspectives,” he said. “We have to do what we have to do as an
institution. It’s hard to replace good people, but we will do our best to get
another great dean.”
Despite the newfound compromise, some councilmembers remain
wary of the exchange’s wider implications.
“The provost just doesn’t understand the process yet,” Samia
said. “It’s just the process that he’s just trying to learn and be sensitive
to. He just needs to learn how to interact with students in an administrative
capacity.”
Readers can contact Sam Huang at [email protected].
