Word: sac
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Less than one week after the head of the Institute of Politics (IOP) dissolved its Student Advisory Committee (SAC), IOP members committed to preserving student leadership in the organization presented sweeping proposals for change yesterday morning...
Responding to IOP Director Sen. David Pryor's criticism that SAC had become too insular, the students crafted their suggestions from two open meetings. Then, at a breakfast attended by more than 40 students, Travis F. Batty '02 and Francisco J. Flores '02, senior IOP associates, presented Pryor with their ideas: hold democratic elections, create meritocratic membership standards and revamp the structure of committees and leadership positions...
Furthermore, the decision was not just about SAC: other student-run IOP committees that provided valuable student services have also been axed or have been left in administrative limbo, with their existence after Dec. 1 unclear. Students might thus lose the benefits of IOP programs that they might have retained had the reforms emerged through discussion rather than dictate...
What organization will rise anew from SAC's ashes is still unclear. Some have worried that in pursuit of equal access to students, the IOP may not provide for any leadership roles through which students can channel their concerns. Perhaps these fears will be alleviated at this morning's breakfast meeting. Perhaps also Pryor's actions will not set a dangerous precedent, and the leaders of this new structure will not live in a state of permanent unease that they, too, may find themselves suddenly undesirable...
...happened, the damage done by Pryor's disregard for student input has undercut the benefits that may arise from any reforms. Whatever SAC's faults, the students who have devoted much of their college careers to laboring to make the IOP a better place deserve more respect than they received...