Spring Elections Wrap-up

by Alexander Talcott

On May 9 and 10, students voted in elections for Student Assembly representatives, class officers, College committee and Green Key Society members, and newly-named SA executive positions Student Body President and Student Body Vice President.

Molly Stutzman ’02 will be the College’s first Student Body President, winning 58.3% of 2345 votes, all cast at the Basement elections website. When asked about her wide margin of victory, Stutzman said, "I was definitely helped by the fact that I’ve been here at Dartmouth for a full three years, and gotten to know a lot of people through a variety of different organizations." She also touted her experience with the SA. Asked about the major campus event since her election, the derecognition of Zete, Stutzman said she has friends who are Zetes, but that the house crossed the line, had previously gotten in trouble for the papers 14 years ago, and knew that the content was harmful when discovered by a student this summer. And thus, "there should be repercussions when something like this happens."

Michael Sevi ’02 finished second in the presidential election with 29.3% of the vote. Sevi, along with vice presidential runningmate Aly Rahim ’02, advocated implementing a 7-point reform plan to mark the "end of Student Assembly, the beginning of student government." Sevi was surprisingly encouraged by the result and offered, "On the optimistic side, over 600 voted for us. It makes me feel good. I would like to thank all of them personally if I knew who they all were." Sevi and Aly plan to become involved in the SA in the fall and work to get their reform ideas on the agenda. "We heard the rhetoric of reform, especially in the v.p. race," said Sevi. "Let’s hold them to their own rhetoric and campaign promises." Ted Smith ’02, who ran an alternative "none of the above" campaign, received 6.7 percent of the vote.

Michael Newton ’04 won the vice presidential race. Newton, whose Blitzmail nicknames include "Vicepres" and "Voteforme," won with 39.1% of the vote. During his campaign, Newton advocated the establishment of a steering committee to coordinate the voices of various student organizations. When asked about the committee, Newton said, "I am confident that it will come to fruition, I also understand that it is going to take a lot of work and time." The other candidates, Aly Rahim ’02 and Amit Anand ’03, received 34.7 and 23.1 percent, respectively.

In the Class Council races, Jen Tutak won the race for 2002 Class President, and Thomas Wright won the unopposed race for Class Vice President. John "Doc" Kupiec, who said in a Candidate’s Night in Tindle Lounge that the Council needs to be spontaneous and "just go around and give people treats" will lead the Class of 2004 as its President. Laura Nieskens will be Class Vice President.

In the College committee elections, Anand, Jonathan Block ’02, Kumar Garg ’03, Katie Pasciucco ’02, Jonathan Sussman ’02, and Stutzman won the six open spots on the Committee on Standards, beating out eighteen other aspirants. Vanessa Green ’02, Kumar Garg ’03, Jonathan Block ’02, Kendra Quincy Kemp ’02, Meredith Schwartz ’03 and Tyler Garland ’02 were the successful candidates in the Organizational Adjudication Committee race.

Kendra Quincy Kemp was the only official candidate for Class of 2002 SA representative. Other write-in winners include Melissa Heaton, Chris Winterbottom, Blake Ratcliff, Greg Hill, Kevin Horrigan, and Chris Bowen. There will be a run-off for the eighth open spot between Mark Bubriski, Clark Copelin, James Judah, Scott Judah, James Parker, and Asa Tapley. Erica Berman, Rebecca Davis, Louis No, Michael Perry, Andrew Ralph, and Jessica Walters, Taylor Acosta, and Evan Brennan were elected Class of 2003 SA representatives, with the final two winning as write-ins. The new Class of 2004 SA representatives are Reid Coggins, Jai Danani, Munish Dayal, Stephanie Long, Joshua Marcuse, Melissa Sheiko, Julia Webb, and Steven Zyck.

Twenty students were elected to the Green Key Society.