Word: sacs
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Tomorrow the Student Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Institute of Politics (IOP) will cease to exist. This follows the decision of Sen. David M. Pryor, director of the Institute, to dissolve the current governing structure in the hopes of forming a new, more open body--an admirable move. SAC had long wrestled with the problematic nature of its structure and, like many students, I am pleased by Pryor's move to address them...
Unfortunately, some students used this occasion to exaggerate the disadvantages inherent in the structure of SAC, the body that for over three decades has led student involvement at the IOP. These students made several inaccurate claims about the power and privileges of its members and the process by which it selected them. I hope to clarify these misperceptions about SAC to inform the discussions about future student involvement...
...Perhaps the most common misconception is that SAC members monopolized decisions about which topics the IOP addressed and what types of programs it offered. In fact, decisions about IOP programming were made not by SAC but by the IOP's eight program committees, whose widely announced weekly meetings were open to all undergraduates. SAC members ideas about IOP programming received no preference; like all students at Harvard, they had to argue their ideas before a committee of their peers...
...seems unreasonable for students now to complain that Sen. Pryor should have consulted SAC before making a change that will transform the IOP into an open, democratic institution. SAC would have refused the very change that will help end the favoritism and exclusion inherent in its particularly self-selecting system...
Furthermore, one major complaint from many SAC members is that it is unfair for the director and staff to demand that SAC change. However, reconstituting the IOP student leadership is merely part of a two-year transition process that has affected the entire Institute. Last year the IOP staff was restructured--some staff members were given additional tasks while some had their responsibilities diminished or changed. Overall, the staff has been restructured much to the improvement of the Institute. Now it is time for the same measures to apply to SAC...