A UW-Madison alumnus who served on the committee that selected former Chancellor Biddy Martin warned the Associated Students of Madison Wednesday to be wary of their proposed process for selecting students to serve on the committee to choose a new UW-Madison chancellor.
In the proposed process, ASM's Shared Governance Committee would review applications from any interested UW-Madison student and select finalists to speak before ASM. Student Council would then select one graduate student and one undergraduate student to serve on the committee.
The alumnus, Eric Paulson, said if student council is given a say in the selection of students to serve on the committee, the council's political motives could influence their decision. He said the Shared Governance Committee, a smaller subcommittee of ASM, should have the final say in the selection, as it did for the committee that selected Chancellor Martin.
Shared Governance Chair Nicholas Brigham-Schmuhl, who proposed the selection procedure, said he did not think ASM would use their influence in the process for its own political gain.
""I think that having more eyes and ears on the finalist for this position is going to allow us to have a more personal stake in the decision,"" Brigham-Schmuhl said.
Although ASM was scheduled to vote on the process for selecting students to serve on the search-and-screen committee Wednesday, the vote was postponed until next week's meeting.
Also at the meeting, ASM voted to endorse three campaigns for the fall 2011 semester.
The campaigns aim to make education at UW-Madison more affordable, raise the minimum wage for students with university jobs, and ensure landlords respect student tenants' rights.
