At Wednesday's Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) meeting, adviser to the Judicial Board (J-Board) Dean Laura Lee and Chair of the J-Board Edward Gottfried '11 met with BSG to discuss the annual report and answer any questions on the role of the J-Board and its policies.
Most of Wednesday's meeting dealt with the contentious issue of the selection process that appoints members to the J-Board.
Under the current system, the selection process is headed by the Judicial Board Adviser and the Chair of the Board.
Nominations are solicited from students, faculty and staff.
All students not on academic or disciplinary probation have the opportunity to apply.
The potential student members are then selected by the existing J-Board, the J-Board Adviser and one BSG representative.
Class of 2011 Representative Greg Tabak shared his qualms over the current process as being too "self-selective and self-governing" and suggested the idea of instituting a campus-wide vote to grant the new system greater student input.
According to Lee, the current system of selection discourages the variable of popularity and emphasizes the importance of choosing students with the desired qualities.
"There was concern with an election that is not necessarily a popularity contest. There are leadership positions in the College that are elective. I don't know the specifics but I know it's been of a concern," said Lee. "We did not want popularity to sway the opinion of the board."
Last year's guidelines for prospective applicants cited the qualities of personal integrity, confidentiality and respect for peers, faculty and staff as prerequisites sought by the J-Board.
Accordingly, the selection process strove to seek out the most qualified and representative applicants.
"The personal time in the selection process is more informative than the information that can be available in a student election. An election would not give us the balance between different backgrounds that we are looking to get," said Gottfried. "We can keep the balance and personalities of the board in the College's best interest."
BSG then moved on to address two issues from last week. Facilities Representative Isa Abney '11 spoke about the updates on the newspapers proposal.
Treasurer Kyle Dempsey '11 announced the current adjustments made to the Student Activities and Funding Committee (SAFC) rule book.
Specific changes include the removal of redundancies, the new vehicle policy that will provide a daily fixed rate rather than charging per mile, and the explanation that student DJs, like student bands, cannot be funded by the SAFC.
Assistant Director of Student Affairs Meadow Davis was also a featured speaker and spoke about the Sexual Assault and Misconduct Board.