UGBC fills new cabinet positions

Whittling down over 130 applications to fill the 78-person Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) cabinet was not easy, said Dan Sievers, vice president-elect and A&S '08. "But I am confident that we have found a motivated and creative group of students to lead the UGBC next year. They will add to the intellectual and social atmosphere of the campus."

With the goal of downsizing in mind, Jenniffer Castillo, president-elect and A&S '08, said she and Sievers cut 10 current positions, combined others, and added a few new ones. Among those created were a director of budgets to assist with financial paperwork and a director of club caucus to build communication among student groups.

Although they had originally planned to appoint 65 to 70 applicants, Castillo said the "micromanaging" leadership style of the UGBC demanded a slight increase. "Instead of simply forming a department with a broad title and only five positions that all work in whatever issues arise, our style is to create a department in which each individual has very specific goals and expectations working towards a particular issue," she said in an e-mail. "Since there are a great number of issues that require improvement or oversight, we tend to have more positions than other governments."

Sievers said they focused on eliminating redundancy when it came to meetings. "There was no single sweeping change," he said. "We moved some positions that don't need to have weekly consultations or meetings within a department to the executive department."

Castillo and Sievers also said they combined some positions to focus the tasks that those directors will be responsible for carrying out. These modifications resulted in a reduction of 20 members overall.

Each officer will be charged with overseeing specific aspects of Castillo and Sievers' platform, including "intercollegiate affairs, endowment for service trips, and the plasma screens," said Castillo. "Through each position description, we have tried to incorporate our platform goals, giving each position very specific guidelines and expectations. Although we feel each new director should shape the position with their own vision, we want to be certain that our platform goals are carried through."

Sievers said the new cabinet strikes a good balance between returning members and those new to the UGBC. While involving incoming freshmen poses difficulty each year, Sievers said ad-hoc committees can provide ways for them to get involved. "All of the rising sophomores are new to the UGBC," he said, "and most of the rising juniors are new as well."

"We had a good balance of applicants from every class, including both returning and new applicants," added Castillo.

"We want to foster a UGBC that can communicate more and be more effective," said Sievers. "We were impressed with all those students who applied and are excited by the enthusiasm of those we accepted."