[Soc2006] conflict of interest?

[Arc Riley]

On Thu, May 04, 2006 at 07:49:36AM -0400, Greg Wilson wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> What's the rule on mentors ranking projects that they helped propose?

If there is one, it's broken all the time.  Last year there were 
apparently proposals written almost entirely by the mentor, the student 
only filling in their personal bio section.

Three of the Soya proposals were written with the students talking 
extensivly with us and getting much feedback on their drafts.  I think 
this is more than fair as any student ambitious enough could have done 
so for any project.  

Students who apply without talking to people from the mentoring 
organization first, without researching their proposals and bouncing 
questions off the developers, without showing drafts of their proposals 
and getting feedback.. yes, they're at an obvious disadvantage.  

I think that's a good thing.  This isn't a lottery...

I think the only time conflict of interest comes up is when the mentor 
is a close personal friend with the student.