Fest Coordinators

On 19th April, 2018, the President of the SUC 2018-2019 posted a notice on BPHC Shoutbox calling all students from the 2016 batch for selection to the posts of Fest Coordinator for ATMOS, Arena and Pearl respectively. The notice stated a GBM would be held later on to “formalise the posts” and “set specific roles and boundaries” for these posts.

The selection procedure includes “filtration of applicants based on their SOPs, interview with the outgoing President, respective Secretaries of the fest, General Secretary and outgoing FOB, with each having one vote, in the presence of EC, CRC, incoming SUC and FOB” followed by which “the candidate who gets more votes will be appointed as Fest Coordinator”.

Interestingly enough, the proposal to appoint Fest Coordinators for ATMOS, Arena and Pearl from the academic year 2018-2019 was brought up at the GBM held on 15th November, 2017, where it was explained that while the SUC is elected for the welfare of the campus, they have conventionally been focussing more on fests. Hence, the post of a Fest Coordinator would be necessary, “as the representative of the President during a fest. The Fest Coordinator would be the head of the concerned departments (the CoStAA/StuCCA/CoSSAC body) of the fest” and “the Secretary will head the Senate”. Out of the 335 General Body members present, 191 members voted in favour, initiating further discussion on said idea in the future. However, considering how this was less than two-thirds of the General Body members, the proposal could not be implemented.

Now, a few questions arise. Is the President of the SUC 2018-2019 eligible to select people to posts for the coming academic year when his tenure hasn’t begun yet? Does the notice given out by him hold any value in light of the result of the GBM that previously took place? What exact role will the EC hold in this selection procedure?

To answer these questions, Journal Club got in touch with the EC and the President of the SUC 2018-2019.

The current SUC can appoint people to positions now along with the new FOB, provided their tenure starts along with the SUC, that is, at the beginning of the next academic year. Coming to the question of how this proposal is moving forward in spite of the lack of the support of 2/3rd of the General Body present for the GBM where it was brought up, the EC stated that since it was passed by 1/3rd of the people attending, it is important enough to be discussed. Further, what is being done right now is unofficial and “the EC or the CRC won’t recognize any powers of the Fest Coordinators for 2018-2019”.

It is still unclear as to how the Fest Coordinator will function if the post is “unofficial” and not recognized by the EC or the CRC, considering how it is unknown as to whom they are accountable to and what the boundaries of their powers are just as yet.

The notice on Shoutbox also mentions that these selections will take place under the supervision of the EC and the CRC although these posts are not constitutionally recognized. The EC explained that this is “merely to involve a neutral selection process” and that “the EC shall have no vote”. Should the SUC choose to disregard the opinion of the EC, “they’re free to do so because as of now there’s nothing written, binding on them.” The President of the SUC 2018-2019 has stated that while the idea of a Fest Coordinator has been in the pipeline since 2016-2017, it couldn’t be implemented till date. The outgoing SUC and the FOB have been entrusted with appointing these candidates as their experience will help the new SUC in choosing the right people.

Further, he stated that for the year 2018-2019, the post of Fest Coordinator will be an “unofficial” one and is being implemented on an experimental basis. While the proposal to implement these posts was not successfully passed when brought up in the GBM, he still feels the SUC has the authority to create these positions. He also feels that there was a lot of “confusion” regarding this vote, so it shouldn’t count.

Coming to the role of the Fest Coordinator, since there is no fixed description of the role just as yet, they will be selected on the basis of who has the most fest-related experience for each fest. Moreover, it will mainly be an advisory role to help integrate the work of the clubs and departments during fests. The “filtration of candidates” clause in the selection procedure is only to shortlist the best candidates faster if they receive too many applications, as the SUC aims to appoint the Fest Coordinators by the end of this week so that they can begin working from the start of the next academic year.

He said that while the decision to appoint Fest Coordinators wasn’t entirely the idea of the President 2017-2018, it was his call. He said that it was a combined decision but the call was his as the President 2018-2019 doesn’t have the power to take a decision right now as he is not a part of the office yet. Although the EC has confirmed that the President 2018-2019 does indeed have the power to appoint people who will be working during his tenure, when this fact was brought to his notice he said that he was not aware that he had this power.

Considering all of these facts, there still remain a lot of grey areas in terms of the selection, implementation and responsibilities of the Fest Coordinators, and other members of the SUC, in general, and it is a sincere hope that light is shed on these areas for the benefit of the General Body.

All information used in this article has been procured by direct communication with the parties involved.

Article by Sriya Suri and Kushagra K Chanda Published 25th April, 2018