A8
The Phillipian
NEWS
March 8, 2013
History of the Presidency ANDOVER STUDENT BODY PRESIDENTS BY RACE AND GENDER
Gender of School President (1973-2012) Female 10% Male 90%
First School President Neil Migdol ’74
1973
Chosen by the 6 Cluster Presidents
1975
Race of School President (1973-2012) African-American/African 10% South Asian/Indian American 10% Asian-American/Asian 7.5% Caucasian 72.5%
First Asian School President Julian Chang ’78
An Overview of Student Government at Andover Since 1973 STAFF REPORT
The establishment of a School President position in 1973 followed a recommendation from the Andover’s Advisory Committee (AdCom), made up of both students and faculty. AdCom suggested the School President be elected by the six Cluster Presidents from the Cluster Presidents themselves. The School President, according to the 1973 Phillipian article, would serve primarily as an ex-officio member of AdCom and partake in administrative tasks. Prior to this date, the six Cluster Presidents were responsible for much of the day-to-day executive tasks, so the School President was intended to bridge the gap between the students’ “executive” body—the Cluster Council—and faculty. As time went on, however, it became clear that the student body wanted to vote their School President directly. Based on a questionnaire to the students about the election process, Don Rimsky ’75, School President, decided to allow the entire student body to vote for a School President out of the pool of six Cluster Presidents, according to a 1975 Phillipian article. The same year, the Committee of Residential Life (CRL), consisting only of faculty and administrators, replaced AdCom. While CRL was only an advising body with few legislative powers, students still felt a lack of representation in school decision-making, as editorialized by The Phillipian. In response, CRL suggested in 1979 to allow Cluster Presidents to vote at faculty meetings. This proposal was not passed. In 1981, Hadley Soutter ’82 was elected the first female School President. She wrote in an e-mail to The Phillipian, “It was a healthy representation of capable, spirited, and giving young women robustly involved in a range of leadership roles we felt meaningfully connected to, from nurturing newcomers, to working out policy, to offering critiques of campus life.” In 1988, after debate over the lack of student voice in decision-making, the faculty voted to implement a School Congress, which included the entire faculty, Student Council and representatives from the minority groups: Afro-Latino-American Society, Asian Society, Jewish Student Union and Women’s Forum.
1975
The student members deeply embedded in our had the same opportunity community.” In an article to speak and vote as teach- titled “Female Apathy vs. ers on student-related issues Male Oppression” on March only. Some faculty members 10, John Udell ’92 and Colm questioned the inclusion of Gallagher ’92 asserted that Women’s Forum’s participa- males held more board position in the Congress, as they tions than females because composed 48 percent of the of the “‘dominant male idea” student body and had equal in the society, compelling ferepresentation in Student males to “subservient roles.” Council, according to a May A poll of the student 6 article. body in the same 1992 issue The same May 6, 1988 ar- of The Phillipian showed that ticle also detailed an incident 70 percent of males surveyed in which a female teacher or- believed men and women ganized a meeting of select- are treated equally on camed female faculty members, pus, compared with only 46 suggesting that the women percent of female students vote only for females in the surveyed. upcoming election for AdIn 2001, faculty and StuCom, which had been rein- dents discussed lack of festated. When approached, males in leadership across she justified the meeting by campus according to Phillistating that men have been pian article on February 27, doing the same thing for titled: “Twenty-Six Years Afyears. ter Merger, Gender Relations In 1991, to alleviate con- Still Tenuous.” In response, cerns about ballot stuffing the 2001 Student Council in preliminary rounds, Stu- “pushed the idea of splitting dent Council did not ratify the class representative roles proposals to set a quorum, so that there was one male which would invalidate the and one female,” said Joe presidential election if a Maliekel ’01, former School minimum level of voter at- President. The proposal was tendance was not fulfilled. not passed. In 1992, however, The Faced with a similar proPhillipian editorialized about posal in 2002, Cluster Counlack of student enthusiasm cil voted down a gender-split for the Student Council elec- amendment requiring an tions. The editorial cited the equal number of male and previous Spring’s elections, female positions. The Philwhen make-believe candi- lipian published an article date “Chewbacca” received which found that the gender a substantial number of stu- imbalance in Student Coundent votes, as evidence that cil is less prevalent at similar the students “deemed the boarding schools. three candidates incapable of exceptional representation.” That same year, genderrelated debates ensued after Rebekah Lewis ’92 criticized lack of females on The Phillipian and WPAA boards in a Letter to the Editor on March 6. WPAA responded that “the deciSchool President interest meeting sion process was of the 25-30 students in attendance not a sexist one. The problem... lies more
Student Body Popularly Elects
1 of 6 Cluster Presidents to be School President
1977 200 Signatures Now Required to run for School President
Semi-final Round
now includes top 3 candidates
1981
First Female School President
1985
First Black School President
1992
2002 2005
Hadley Soutter ’82
Todd Fletcher ’86
70% 40% of males
of females Believe men and women are treated equally at Andover according to a 1992 poll, the phillipian
Requirement for Equal Number of Male & Female Leaders rejected by cluster councils
Vice President Position created by student council for 2nd place candidate
First Indian School President Ali Siddiqi ’06
2008
4 Female Students Attend
Executive Secretary Position
2009
Lower Girls Encouraged to Join Student Council
Gender of Semi-final Candidate Pool When Female Student Won
at meeting held by Alana Rush, Associate Dean of Community Service & Malin Adams ’09, School President
Females Seek Merit-based Leadership, Males Seek Election-based Leadership according to a study by Jane Fried, Assistant Head for Enrollment, Research & Planning
Student Coucil Remodels Andover Student Government Co-Presidential model instated, Vice President & Executive Secretary positions eliminated, semi-final round includes two candidate-pairs
Race of Candidate Pool (1992-2012) Other 4.0% African-American/African 13.4% South Asian/Indian American 3.4% Asian-American/Asian 10.1% Caucasian 69.1%
created by student council for 3rd place candidate
Female 33.3%
2010
Male 66.7%
Gender of Candidate Pool (1992-2012)
2013
Female 20.1% Male 79.9%