self-governance / ground rules / committees / sb meetings / elected positions

The Applications Committee is composed of 8 students and 2 faculty members. ApCom is responsible for addressing the concerns of potential applicants and reviewing all applications to Deep Springs. The committee creates the second round application, invites applicants to the second round, conducts the second round interviews, and ultimately admits first-year students.

The ApCom Chair must be extremely organized and diplomatic. He is responsible for delegating interview questions and conducting interviews. He acts as a liaison between the committee and the community in an attempt to come to an understanding of what characteristics an applicant should exhibit. He is responsible for facilitating tense meetings during which the composition of the next Deep Springs Student Body is determined.

The Communications Committee is responsible for maintaining and defining Deep Springs’ relationship with the outside world. It creates and updates the Deep Springs website, and produces the Deep Springs brochure, as well as the seasonal Alumni Newsletter. It also is responsible for recruiting potential applicants, soliciting and receiving media attention, managing SAT mailings, and bolstering the college's relationship with alumni.

The ComCom Chair facilitates ComCom meetings, sets the schedule for printing and web design, and makes sure all the work that goes into each publication is done on time. He is in charge of mailings and recruitment, and brings media requests to the SB for discussion.

The Curriculum Committee is composed of 8 students and 2 faculty members. During weekly meetings, the committee makes decisions on issues concerning academics at Deep Springs. These include reviewing the applications of prospective faculty and making hiring recommendations to the student body, compiling student evaluations of classes and professors at the end of each semester, helping students develop independent-study proposals, evaluating those study proposals, monitoring students’ academic progress, and preserving a high level of academic achievement and discourse.

The CurCom Chair is responsible for guiding the creation of the college's curriculum. He sets work schedules, coordinates assignments, facilitates discussion during meetings, and brings discussions to the SB regarding faculty and class choices.

The Review and Reinvitations Committee is responsible for reviewing student performance and making reinvitation recommendations to the Student Body. The committee reviews both first and second year students and is responsible for presenting students with a record of their participation with regards to labor, academics, and self governance. RCom also reviews this participation as a committee and strives to synthesize suggestions and constructive criticisms that may help the student to better capitalize on his time at Deep Springs. Interviews are held term five and are usually about an hour long. During this time a student's staff, faculty, peer, and self-evaluations are carefully discussed. Each term five, after a student has been interviewed (RCommed), the committee votes on his reinvitation. This vote goes to the student body as a formal recommendation.

The RCom Chair is responsible for the successful implementation of the RCom process. The RCom chair must synthesize the criticism of a student and decide upon the best way to be constructive in evaluations. He has a significant impact upon what boundaries the committee will respect during peer evaluations. He attempts to define the focus of the criticism of the student body.