AAC Chair Resigns, LB to Decide Replacement

Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) chair Aroosa Saeed ’06 submitted a letter of resignation to Associate Dean of Students Jim Hoppe on Oct. 26, citing the time demands of the position as her reason for quitting. Last year, AAC chair Colleen Stockmann ’05 resigned for the same reason.

Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) President Michael Barnes ’06 said there will not be a campus-wide election for the new AAC chair. Instead, each candidate for the position will make a presentation at the Nov. 16 meeting of the Legislative Body (LB). The LB will then conduct an e-mail vote to decide the new chair.

When Stockmann resigned, a campus-wide election was held. According to Barnes, the reason that MCSG will not hold a campus-wide election this time is so that the AAC can keep running without too much delay.

The AAC chair is responsible for heading an eight-person committee composed of LB members and serves as one of two student representatives on the Educational Policy and Governance Committee (EPAG), which recently completed its evaluation of campus academic departments and will soon begin reforming graduation requirements.

Saeed and Stockmann’s resignations have led MCSG to consider changing the position in order to make it less stressful and time-consuming, Barnes said.

“We have had AAC chairs resign with some frequency [recently],” Barnes said. “Some people want us to reexamine the position. A lot of people who run don’t realize the time commitment of it. Working with EPAG is also frustrating because many of the details [of EPAG meetings] are confidential.”

All students may apply for the position of AAC chair. Applications are available in a folder outside of the MSCG office and are due tonight.