A.S. Council will appoint two remaining associate vice presidents next week, after failing to approve a full cabinet last spring and extending the application process to encourage new candidates.
Last spring, council failed to appoint all 10 of the associate vice presidents, who are cabinet members in charge of managing various aspects of student life.
In particular, A.S. President Wafa Ben Hassine’s candidates for the offices of academic affairs and student advocacy were approved only as temporary hires. The position for AVP of College Affairs was not discussed on the council floor and was not appointed.
The AVP of College Affairs serves as a liaison between students, college councils and the A.S. Council, while the AVP of Academic Affairs works on creating university academic policy. The AVP of Student Advocacy is responsible for defending students’ rights in university disputes.
The candidates appointed for the academic affairs and student advocacy positions — former Campuswide Senator Desiree Prevo and Eleanor Roosevelt College junior Arohi Sharma, respectively — were instead hired on a temporary basis until Week Four.
Originally, it was planned for the candidates to reapply and be reappointed by Week Four.
However, Ben Hassine decided last week to delay associate vice president appointment to extend the application period.
“The application went online a few weeks ago, and was only open for a week,” Ben Hassine said. “Sixth College Senator Parminder Sandhu said it should be up for at least two weeks, so we opened up the application process again.”
In an e-mail to the A.S. listserv on Oct. 4, Sandhu expressed concern that there was not enough time to publicize the positions — which are paid $3,500 per year — and for interested candidates to apply.
“There simply could be no way that applications for such important positions would only be up for less than five days on the A.S. website,” he wrote. “These two positions are some of the most important positions that the A.S. council offers, and they certainly merit more than four days of notice to potential applicants.”
Though the applications were reopened, and closed on Oct. 22, Ben Hassine said there have been no other applicants for the AVP of Academic Affairs position other than Prevo, though there are numerous candidates for the positions of AVP of College Affairs and AVP of Student Advocacy.
Interviews will be conducted this week and the new associate vice presidents will be appointed by Nov. 3.
