The Chronicle

Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: News
Last update: 2/15/07 at 6:05 AM EST

Media Credit: SARA GUERRERO Graduate student Bill LeFew, who has served as GPSC president, is one of three Young Trustee finalists.

In his five years at Duke, Bill LeFew, candidate for Young Trustee, has been a jack of all trades.

"I've been involved in every graduate and professional student organization, so I have perspective on what the students want and feel," he said.

LeFew said it is his endless enthusiasm and positivity that drives him to get involved in everything from organizing a basketball camp out to serving as Graduate and Professional Student Council president, all while earning a Ph.D. in mathematics and conducting independent research.

It is this breadth of involvement in all facets of graduate student life that make LeFew qualified to be Young Trustee, he said.

But LeFew added that his experience is not limited to the confines of the graduate student community, and cited his work with undergraduates and administrators as a member of the Committee on Institutional Advancement and as director of the Duke Alumni Association.

LeFew said those experiences make him particularly qualified for the unique demands placed on a Young Trustee to balance graduate student concerns and the larger interests of the University.

"As a trustee, you are entrusted with the University. You want it to progress and you want it to grow," LeFew said. "But then again every trustee has a role. The role of the student trustee is to bring the voices and perspective of graduate and professional students to the Board, although not to the exclusion of other perspectives."

LeFew added that it is this negotiation between being an advocate and giving voice to student concerns that defines the Young Trustee position.

"Advocacy implies that we're right and here's what we want," he said. "Giving voice to graduate and professional students is to communicate how people are feeling. With one there's disagreement, with the other there's dialogue."

LeFew also said he thinks this year's crop of Young Trustees are obligated to hold the University to its plans for institutional development, as outlined in the recently adopted strategic plan.

"This Young Trustee election is in the unique position of having a large number of guidelines and measurables with the new strategic plan," LeFew said. "What I'm concerned with primarily is if new policies are in line with the strategic plan, and if we're achieving the measurables outlined in the plan."

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