UA, class board election results announced

For the first time in memory, no candidates were charged with violating election bylaws. In a six-minute Fair Practices Code hearing -- its shortest meeting in history -- the Nominations and Elections Committee announced the winners of the Undergraduate Assembly, class boards and University Council elections last night and heard no charges of FPC violations against any candidate. NEC officials said this year's meeting was so short -- especially in contrast to last year's, which lasted six hours -- because there were no allegations of candidates violating the FPC, which governs all aspects of student government campaigning. NEC Chairperson Neha Champaneria, a Wharton senior, said the dearth of charges was due to the open lines of communication between the NEC and candidates. The NEC announced the results for UA elections last night. Twenty-five seats were available on the 33-member body. The other eight seats are reserved for freshmen who will be elected next fall. At least eight out of the 25 winners are affiliated with the Greek system, a severe drop from past years when Greeks have secured a clear majority on the UA. It was unknown last night whether three of the candidates are involved with fraternities or sororities. Without a Greek majority on the UA, the InterFraternity Council will have a more difficult time securing a sizeable amount of the UA's discretionary fund, which was used by the IFC last year to fund a large amount of events. Sixteen College of Arts and Sciences students were elected to the UA, including seven incumbents: junior Michael Silver; sophomores Michael Bassik, the current UA vice chairperson, and John Buchanan; and freshmen Dana Hork, Matt Kraus, Kim Rittberg and Wendy Shiekman. College newcomers include juniors Megan Davidson and Jeremy Fingerman; sophomore Alex Moskowitz; and freshmen Tara Brenner, Taylor Megdal, Joshua Klein, Rachel Mendelsohn, Jo Piazza and Carrie Zaslow. Moskowitz and Piazza are Daily Pennsylvanian staff members. Four Wharton students were elected to the UA in the most closely contested race of the election. Twelve candidates -- including five incumbents -- competed for the four available seats. The incumbents re-elected were junior Ryan Robinson, sophomore and current UA Treasurer Jonathan Glick and freshmen Dana Becker and Dave Burd. Four Engineering students -- one more than last year -- were elected to the UA. Sophomore incumbents Theodore LeCompte and Mo Saraiya were both re-elected. Newcomers Michael Krouse, a freshman, and Jed Fonner, a sophomore, will join them in representing the School of Engineering and Applied Science. And freshman newcomer Kimberly Colopinto won the single Nursing UA seat without opposition. The top UA vote-winner for each of the four schools was appointed to the University Council. Next year's UC members are Bassik, Burd, Saraiya and Colopinto. Additionally, Buchanan, Hork, Kraus and Robinson were elected to Council as at-large members. The UA is scheduled to have a meeting April 14 to elect its executive board members. Bassik, Robinson and Silver have all said they would run for the position of chairperson. The NEC also announced the results of the class board elections last night. Current Junior Class President Lisa Marshall was elected to head the Senior Class Board. Other victors in the election were Vice President Jenn Brown, Treasurer Joshua Karetny, Secretary Jordana Riklis, Vice President for Corporate Sponsorship David Chu, College representative William Grimaldi, Engineering representative Janet Duscher and Wharton representative Joseph Fernandez. There was no candidate for Nursing representative. Wharton sophomore David Peretz was elected president of next year's junior class. The other officers for next year are Vice President Saraiya, Engineering representative Krista Pohl and Wharton representative Brian Godfrey. The positions of secretary, treasurer, vice president for corporate sponsorship and College and Nursing representatives remain unfilled. Current Freshman Class President Alex Tolbert, a College student, was elected sophomore class president. Other members of next year's Sophomore Class Board include Vice President Michael Dweck, Secretary Becker, Treasurer Justin Green, Vice President for Corporate Sponsorship Elliot Totah, College representatives Piazza and Zaslow, Wharton representative Marisa Tuchinsky and Nursing representative Colopinto. There were no candidates for Engineering representative. All class board positions which are currently open will be filled through appointments -- most likely made next fall -- made by the individual class boards in conjunction with the NEC.

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