Recent Graduates to Join M.I.T. Governing Board

The M.I.T. trustees have announced plans for incorporating a younger perspective into the decision-making process.

Next year, five representatives of recently graduated classes will be added to the present 81-member M.I.T. Corporation according to a plan adopted by the trustees last week.

This decision reflects the desire of the Corporation to place greater emphasis on student perspective, said outgoing M.I.T. president Howard W. Johnson.

In June, recent graduates will be able to choose five nominees for Corporation posts from a list of their own suggested candidates. However, the list must first be screened by a Corporation committee of the five youngest trustees. The Corporation makes the final selection.

26 to 50

Recent alumni who are eligible are those who received bachelor degrees this year or advanced degrees within the past three years. The five "young" trustees on the screening committee include last year's president of the M.I.T. graduate student council, a director of the World Bank, the head mistress of a Midwestern girls' school, a businessman and an attorney. Their ages range from 26 to 50.

"There is no reason to think that the part played in choosing the trustees by the Corporation will sift out radicals," said Constantine Simonides, special assistant to Johnson.

The five trustees nominated this year will have terms ranging from one to five years, so that in the future only one person will be nominated for the regular five-year term by the young alumni and trustees every year.

"I can't see how this plan can have a cumulative effect for at least ten years considering that most of the present trustees are presidents of big business and over 50 years old." said one M.I.T. student last night. "Besides, the students nominated will probably be co-opted," he added.