As the Honor Committee switches hands, the new Committee voted last night to appoint third-year College students Okem Nwogu and Sean Driscoll as subcommittee chairs for 2003-2004.
Nwogu will be the new chair of the diversity advisory board, a group devoted to increasing outreach to every group on Grounds, from minorities to athletes to Greek and non-Greek organizations.
"It's a critical role, especially with the social climate of the University," Nwogu said. "The Committee is very passionate about hearing out the opinions of the community."
Nwogu said he hopes to create a diversity strategy for the Committee, with specific initiatives for increasing minority participation in the system. He added that he plans on increasing outreach to minority organizations and student leaders.
"The system as a whole needs to make a more concerted effort at reaching out to minority Contracted Independent Organizations, to get that sense of ownership of the system," he said.
He also hopes to create a more diverse support officer pool, he added.
"Generally, the trend is to sever the Committee off from the support pools," Nwogu said. "If you want to eliminate the 'whiteface' perception of the Committee, you have to draw people into the Committee pools."
Last year the board conducted a survey on the perception of race and the Committee, an effort Nwogu plans to continue.
"That's something that needs to be done annually to gauge the University on a yearly basis," he said.
Driscoll will take over as chair of the faculty advisory committee, a group composed of professors from every school at the University. The faculty advisory committee chair acts both as the face of the Committee for faculty who have questions about initiating cases as well as a venue for professors to provide feedback to the Committee.
"It is a student-run system, but faculty are as much a part as the students, and we need their support," Driscoll said.
He said he plans to continue the previous chair's efforts to make faculty comfortable with the system, remaining in contact with professors throughout trials and providing a forum for their thoughts on the Committee.
"I can't stress enough just listening to them," Driscoll said. "The worst thing you can have is faculty members who feel their opinion is worthless."
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