Five UW-Madison students were named to the Dean of Students Search Committee Thursday at the Associated Students of Madison's bi-weekly meeting.
Those chosen included UW-Madison junior Fatima Ashraf, Badger Herald Editor in Chief and senior Alexander Conant, senior Darren Martin, ASM Chair and senior Jessica Miller and senior Emily Williams.
Miller will serve as co-chair for the committee, which will comprise of five student members and five UW-Madison staff members.
ASM Representative Scott Spector said having equal representation on a committee responsible for choosing \the most important administrative position dealing with students"" was a ""tremendous victory"" for all students.
""It just shows that students have just as much say in university decisions as faculty and academic,"" he said.
He said it was also an important step for ASM representatives.
""This is a crowning victory for ASM for the year, for the last five years,"" he said. ""That's what we've been working for'is to have equality on campus in representation and this is it. We've got it.""
The committee will soon begin searching for a replacement for former Dean of Students Alicia Chavez. Chavez announced her resignation Jan. 11, after a desire to return to teaching and research. She will begin her duties as an assistant professor at UW-Madison this fall. Chavez said she did not enjoy the loss of anonymity her job as dean entailed. Former Associate Dean Roger Howard is currently serving as Interim Dean of Students.
Bryan Gadow, chair of ASM Shared Governance Committee, said he and other members of the screening committee had a difficult task in selecting the five students.
""This has been a very long week for people in shared governance,"" Gadow said. ""This is a very tough decision. Pretty much any of these candidates would do a great job.""
