Student Trustees
To be eligible for the three-year student trustee position, a candidate must be a second-semester first-year student. The student trustee position is not an SSGA office, and the student trustee does not represent the SSGA on the Board of Trustees. In fact, the student trustee is not permitted to hold an SSGA office during her term as a trustee. This exclusion includes all SSGA offices, class offices, and any position filled by election at the time of the SSGA elections in the spring because a student government officer is an elected representative of the student body and must act primarily with the interests of her constituents in mind. However, a student trustee, like each of the other trustees, must act primarily with the interests of the College as an institution in mind. These interests are typically complementary, but they may differ occasionally.
The student trustee is expected to serve as a role model for other students. She must:
- Fully satisfy the standard of conduct expected of a Spelman woman
- Maintain high academic achievement
- Remain in good financial standing with the College
- Remain enrolled as a student throughout her term of office on the Board of Trustees. If she fails to do so, she will be disqualified and will be replaced
Selection Process
First-year students wishing to run for the position of student trustee should obtain a student trustee application and a petition form from the chairperson of the SSGA Elections Committee. Each prospective candidate must obtain certification from the College's administration confirming that she meets the qualifications for student trustee.
The prospective candidate then must secure the signatures of 100 current Spelman students. The completed application and petition should be placed in the locked ballot box in the SSGA office. (The deadline for submitting applications and petition forms is set each year by the SSGA Elections Committee.)
Students may not sign the same petition more than once. If duplicate signatures are found on a petition, both signatures will be deemed invalid. If a prospective candidate fails to obtain 100 valid signatures, the petition automatically becomes void, and the prospective candidate must submit a new petition. Petitions are required for all candidates. Write-in candidates are not allowed.
Campaigns begin when SSGA elections are held in the spring. (Refer to SSGA constitution for election guidelines.) Voting takes place during the SSGA and class-officer elections. In the event of a tie between the candidates, the Vice President for Student Affairs determines a tie-breaking process.
The three candidates with the highest number of votes become the student trustee-nominees. They each prepare a resume and a 100-word statement supporting their qualifications and expressing their desire to serve as a student trustee. These are submitted to the Vice President for Student Affairs by April 1 and are forwarded to the Committee on Board Affairs.
The Committee on Board Affairs will review each nominee's background materials, interview each of them, and make a recommendation to the full Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees will make the final selection at its regularly scheduled meeting in April.
