The Minority Rights Coalition announced the newly appointed members of its 2010-11 executive committee Monday.
Third-year College student Heba Tellawi was chosen as the next chair of the MRC, which serves as an umbrella organization for the Black Student Alliance, the Asian Student Union, the Latino Student Alliance, the Middle Eastern Leadership Council, the Queer Student Union and Feminism is for Everyone.
Second-year College student Revat Anandsongkit, meanwhile, was appointed vice chair for internal affairs, while first-year Engineering student Eric Morris was selected to serve as vice chair for external affairs. First-year College student Katie Mayfield and second-year College student Karmen Story were appointed MRC support officers.
The executive committee - whose members were chosen from 11 applicants for the five available positions - is one component of the MRC, which also includes the presidents of the six constituent organizations. This year, the organization took advantage of its flexible constitution to expand the committee's membership from three to five members.
"The way the Constitution was set up allows us to build the MRC Executive Committee based on interest each year," outgoing Chair Neal Fox said.
Tellawi was chosen for one of the positions in part because her past experience should help her lead the coalition effectively, he said, noting that she was the former president of the Middle Eastern Leadership Council. Moreover, he said, Tellawi brings a positive perspective on how to help minority groups collaborate to build a strong community together.
Tellawi also emphasized this goal, adding that the new executive committee will focus on building "a stronger, more unified, minority community, as well as to strengthen and solidify relationships between the MRC and administrators."
During the past year, the MRC worked to establish itself as a resource for its constituent organizations, especially when they need an advocate, a goal that Fox hopes it will continue to work toward.\nThe organization also focused on the recruitment of minority students to prominent student organizations on Grounds, such as the Honor Committee, University Judiciary Committee and Student Council.
"There was a huge increase in minority representation in the UJC," Fox said, adding that the composition of UJC now is very close to an accurate representation of all the minority groups.
Despite these strides made in minority representation, Tellawi emphasized that at the end of the day, the organization's most important function is to provide a forum for sharing ideas, working together and creating a sense of community between the coalition and its constituent groups.
"I've spent the majority of my time at U.Va in positions of advocacy on behalf of minority communities," she said. "[I] cannot wait to use that drive in this position"
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