Neil’s Young Trustee Application Name: Neil Kondamuri Year: 2014 Email:
[email protected] Phone: 219.384.7907 Class Year and School: Senior / Trinity College of Arts and Sciences 1. What is your perception of the role of Young Trustee? “The reason for including students on the Board of Trustees was ... to get younger members on the Board ... whose viewpoint, close to students, would be a valuable addition.” Terry Sanford on the role of the Young Trustee The Young Trustee is a full voting member of Duke’s governing body for two years of a three year term. Thus, the Young Trustee is first a Trustee, with the primary goal of minding Duke’s best interests, and second, a Board member with the unique undergraduate perspective fresh in mind. Similar to Sanford’s perspective, I believe the Young Trustee’s role is to offer the unique perspective of a current or recently graduated student. A typical Duke student is engrossed in a fundamentally different environment in college and postcollege than most Trustees were. This distinctive position allows him or her to offer new insights into various questions that a typical Board member may not have. An ideal Young Trustee understands the complexities of life at Duke and should be able to translate that viewpoint into actionable policy. It is important to note that a Young Trustee is not an advocate of any group or its mission, but rather serves as a representative for the general student body’s issues. He or she must embody a typical Duke student and must have an excellent comprehension of problems that concern the student body.