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MSA disappointed in grad student nominee

One of the Michigan Student Assembly's four student nominees was appointed yesterday to serve on the University's Presidential Search Advisory Committee.

MSA President Flint Wainess presented the names of two undergraduate and two graduate students to Provost J. Bernard Machen last month. Machen named one of those nominees, LSA junior Jennifer Norris, as his choice for the undergraduate representative.

"I'm slightly disappointed that the other nominees are not on, but I think this is a victory for MSA," said LSA Rep. Probir Mehta. Mehta is the chair of MSA's Campus Governance Committee, which collaborated with Wainess in selecting the nominees.

MSA Vice President Sam Goodstein, an MSA nominee for the graduate position, was not chosen.

"I'm really disappointed that they didn't choose the person MSA selected," Goodstein said. "This shows a lack of initiative on their part on what MSA has to say."

Goodstein said he was disappointed he was not interviewed or contacted by Machen about the position.

Machen said he considered the MSA nominees, but made his choices according to other criteria.

"(The MSA nominees) were carefully considered," Machen said.

LSA Rep. Michael Nagrant, a CGC member, said the rejection of Goodstein's nomination for the graduate position doesn't reflect on the administration's attitude toward MSA.

"The administration used their own criteria for that position. I don't think it meant any less respect for MSA," Nagrant said.

"I tried to pick representative students of the University," Machen said. "They weren't picked because they represent any particular organization or entity."

The MSA endorsement was a definite factor in the announcement, Norris said.

"I think that the provost took the MSA reccommendation into account the most," she said.

The first meeting of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee is scheduled for tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

-- Daily Staff Reporter Jodi Cohen contributed to this report.