Shimer College Assembly

The Shimer College Assembly is the internal governing body of Shimer College.

The Assembly was established in 1979, supplanting an earlier and more primitive form of participatory democracy known as "The House." All students, faculty, staff and members of the Board of Trustees are voting members of the Assembly; alumni can participate in deliberations but cannot vote.

The details of school operations are overseen by the elected committees of the Assembly. The Assembly as a whole considers only matters related to the ethos of the college, the election of committee members, and the Assembly constitution.

Committees

• Administrative Committee
• Admissions Committee
• Budget Committee
• Financial Aid Policy Committee
• Grievance and Appeals Committee
• Quality of Life Committee

Profiled

• on blog.shimer
• on Participedia
• in the Assembly constitution (as of September 2010)

Further reading

• "On Not Knowing the Particulars", by Jack Wikse and David Shiner:

  In the Assembly, we don't know and shouldn’t know about the skeleton in the hallway. As members of the Assembly we don't know and shouldn't think about the particulars of the personnel decisions facing the administrative committee. This is not indifference; it is simply the sort of generality which is appropriate to the Assembly. And without a specific policy for us to review, it is unreasonable and improper to expect that a general discussion on this question could or should resolve a particular personnel question before a committee. To expect this is to confuse the general and the particular.

References

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