Ahmed, LaBolt Vie for Community Council Leadership

Author: Andrea Gissing

Ahmed Stresses Strengths as Leader and Team Player
"While there are many qualities that define what a leader is," said Fahim Ahmed '03, "to me there are two components which are essential. Firstly, a leader's primary role is to represent the views of his constituents. Secondly, and just as importantly, a leader has to be a good follower. Having good team skills and being able to develop good team building is just as important as being able to lead."
Ahmed is one of two candidates running in this year's race for the position of 2002-2003 Student Co-chair of the Community Council (SCCOCC). Ahmed, an economics major and math minor, is from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he attended Scolastica High School. For the past three years he has served on the Student Government Association (SGA), as a senator first for Milliken Hall and then for Ross Commons. He has also been co-chair of Ross Commons Council and a board member of the International Students Organization (ISO). On the SGA, he served as chair of the Ratification Committee and as a member of the Finance and Constitutional Appeals Committee. Ahmed is also a DJ for College radio station WRMC, and is involved with the Student Investment Committee, the South Asian Club and occasionally submits writing to The Middlebury Campus.
The Community Council, Ahmed said, is a leading institution at the College that "is uniquely positioned to both serve in an advisory capacity to the president and the senior administration and to make executive decisions on the institution and enforcement of policies in key areas of interest." In his platform, Ahmed specifically proposed initiatives to address the issues of Middlebury's residential, social, academic, transportation and safety policies.
Under the residential systems policy, Ahmed plans to concentrate on issues ranging from room draw to the evaluation of the social house system. He proposes to evaluate the room draw policy in order to maintain seniority privilege and to maintain flexibility in changing commons. Ahmed supports the continuity of all residential institutions, including the commons system, the social house system and the academic interest house system. He plans to institute a fair, transparent and objective review system for social houses.
His social policy is to promote a safer and socially responsible atmosphere in which the irresponsible and unhealthy use of substances is reduced. He plans to extend the duration of registered parties and create a College bar at The Grille to reduce the substantial level of binge drinking that occurs on campus. In addition, he plans to review the alcohol citation policy.
In terms of academics, Ahmed specifically addresses the Honor Code and the study abroad program in his platform. He would like to raise the profile of the Honor Code by establishing discussion of the Honor Code system as an important component of first-year seminars.
The study abroad program currently contains an element of discrimination against students on financial aid, Ahmed said, as they have greater difficulty enrolling in non-Middlebury schools. He would like to expand the financial aid program to include non-language curriculum abroad, thus allowing students on financial aid greater opportunities to study abroad.
Addressing transportation issues, Ahmed's goal is to expand the hours and scope of the current Midd-Rides operation to include weekends and shuttles around the Middlebury area. He would also like to create more 15-minute parking spots at major loading zones around campus.
Ahmed said he would work to "ensure 24-hour student access to all residential facilities, regardless of commons affiliation and/or dormitory location." Also, he plans to institute greater dialogue about sexual crimes on college campuses and review Middlebury's sexual harassment policy to address such serious charges.
Ahmed advocates measures to ensure greater transparency, accountability and public awareness of Community Council's proceedings. Looking forward to the challenges ushered in by the election, Ahmed said that his experience has prepared him well for the two weeks. "It has taught me how to get things done," he explained.

LaBolt Calls for 'Vision, Access, Commitment'
Ben LaBolt '03, one of the two candidates running for the position of 2002-2003 Student Co-chair of Community Council (SCCOCC), has high aspirations for the future. His campaign, with the theme of "Fostering a Smooth Transition with Vision, Access, Innovation and Commitment" is designed to lead Middlebury College forward.
"Right now," said LaBolt, "the College is in transition. The way I see it, there are a series of options, a series of reforms that can be put into effect that will help aid that transition go smoothly."
LaBolt's platform is based on six main points of interest: residential oversight such as inequality during room draw, the annual academic interest and social house review, the citation policy, the study abroad policy, judicial reforms and the security policy. Worried that the Community Council could potentially get bogged down in rehashing old ideas, he proposed several new initiatives that he believes would work to the benefit of the College while readdressing some of the ongoing significant issues.
With the current residential oversight, LaBolt's goal is to ensure "universal, equal access to reasonable housing."
He cited two main problems with housing selection: LaForce Hall's exclusive availability to Ross Commons residents and the present inability of students, primarily first-years, to remain affiliated with the Commons of their choosing.
According to LaBolt, the housing crunch is one that must be resolved now before greater problems arise.
LaBolt found that, as it stands, the current Community Council subcommittee review of the social houses is based upon a series of quantitative measurements that are applied to all houses without examining the qualitative contribution of the house to the College community.
LaBolt said, "Community Council must commit to making the houses and the community stronger, rather than setting unachievable statistical goals and then rebuking houses based on a bottom line."
He seeks to establish a review system based on "qualitative contribution, rather than quantitative interrogation."
Since safety on campus is a significant issue, especially where alcohol is involved, LaBolt seeks to "maintain safety by monitoring hazardous drinking."
He considers students' safety impaired "when [Department of] Public Safety [officers] randomly pick out and cite students at parties, they return to their dorms fearful of the consequences of drinking in public, while at no point questioning their drinking behavior."
To combat this while recognizing the right of Public Safety officers to cite underage drinkers, LaBolt said they should have probable cause, outlined by a series of key indicators that are indicative of excessive levels of intoxication, before approaching students to cite them. Additionally, LaBolt plans to allow students to reduce the number of citations held based upon years of "good, safe behavior."
Related to campus safety is the implementation of the new security system. In LaBolt's opinion, as the Community Council approves the final version of the security system and oversees its implementation, it must ensure that the students, faculty and staff have universal, 24-hour access to all facilities on campus.
LaBolt said that issues of security and student privacy must be closely monitored to ensure that the new system is focused on creating "universal access for the community, getting the right people in."
LaBolt aims to address the study abroad policy by eliminating the language requirement and by reevaluating the financial aid determination process. LaBolt said that students should be able to pursue study abroad programs that are related to their academic interests regardless of the native language of the program's host country. LaB
olt plans to address the financial aid policy regarding aid grants to students who plan to study abroad in non-Middlebury schools.
LaBolt also has plans to instigate judicial reform by "targeting offenders by adding a self-defense clause" to the handbook.
"Every fight has an instigator, and every justice system allows a victim to protect himself or herself. The lack of language we have [in the handbook] protecting victims pushes them to the level of aggressors in responding to violence to protect themselves. We should reverse this policy by ensuring that they are protected from penalty," he said.
LaBolt attended Lyons Township High School, a public school in LaGrange, Ill. He is currently pursuing a political science major with a double minor in French and theater.
He has held several leadership positions – co-chair and treasurer of Brainerd Commons, both vice president and president of the College Democrats and the head of the Otter Nonsense Players.
He has served on the Political Science Advisory Committee, the Judicial Appeals Committee and on the Community Council's evaluative section of the Campus Access Committee.