I agree that a full-curated program would have its issues, and
honestly, I'd be hesitant to move make such a big leap. It seems
everyone agrees at least on the 15% (3-4 sessions) and made of note of
it in the documentation, but I'd still like to hear if people either
support more (or less). I've also made a note that the goal of these
sessions set aside for the program committee should be "diversity".

If you'd like to take a look, it's on the wiki:
http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/How_To_Plan_A_Code4LibCon#Program_Committtee

As to whether people know who's a regular or not, reading through last
year's discussion, we might consider the idea of people
self-identifying as female, minority, first-timers, etc. as part of
their proposals. Thoughts?