Silver elected new UA chair

College junior Michael Silver was elected to head the UA's executive board next year. Continuing the yearly trend of marathon elections, the Undergraduate Assembly spent 5 1/2 hours in the basement of Stouffer Triangle selecting its executive board last night, electing College junior and former West Philadelphia Committee Chairperson Michael Silver as the new UA chairperson. The new members of the UA -- elected late last month -- nominated and cast their ballots for the body's five steering committee positions: chairperson, vice chairperson, treasurer, secretary and University Council Steering Committee representative. Committee chairpersons will be chosen either later this semester or early in the fall. The election proceedings, which were run by the Nominations and Elections Committee, allowed for a statement from the current position-holder as well as from each of the nominees, followed by a question-and-answer period. The first race was for the position of chairperson. After the initial vote, Wharton junior and outgoing Student Life Committee Chairperson Ryan Robinson was eliminated from the race, leaving only two candidates: Silver and former UA Vice Chairperson Michael Bassik, a College sophomore. Silver was selected by the body during the second vote. Later in the night, Silver highlighted his record on the UA and his connections with other student government leaders throughout his campaign. "I'm absolutely ecstatic -- I never envisioned this," Silver said. "The first time I ran for UA, I lost and I didn't make it on [the body] until junior year. It was such a meteoric rise and I'm so inspired by the competence and the passion of everyone on the new UA." This year's race for chairperson lacked the controversy of last year's proceedings, in which five ballots were cast before then-College sophomore and UA Treasurer Bill Conway was elected to the position. The election was marred by accusations that then-College junior Jeremy Katz, a Zeta Beta Tau brother, solicited votes from the nine ZBT brothers elected to the UA. Following the top election, Robinson -- who had previously told UA members that he would not "drop down" if he lost the race for chairperson -- accepted Silver's nomination for vice chairperson and won. "I dropped down because, as UA vice chair, I could still accomplish a lot of the goals I had [when running for] chair and I could still utilize my strengths as a leader," Robinson said. Bassik was ineligible to run for vice chairperson because the UA bylaws prohibit him from running again for that position. Wharton sophomore and former UA Treasurer Jonathan Glick and Engineering sophomore and former Facilities Committee Chairperson Theo LeCompte were the other candidates for vice chairperson. Both Bassik and Glick "dropped down" to run for treasurer. Other candidates included Engineering sophomore Mo Saraiya and College sophomore John Buchanan. After three ballots were cast, Bassik was elected treasurer, a position which ranks in as lower than the one he held for the past year. "When you're hit with a blow like this, it changes you inside," Bassik said during his speech. "I never saw myself not being chair [of the UA] next year." UA newcomer and College junior Megan Davidson beat UA incumbent and College freshman Dana Hork in the race for secretary. And in what turned out to be the most contested election of the evening, six candidates -- including Glick, LeCompte, Saraiya, Buchanan and Hork, all of whom "dropped down" -- ran for Council steering representative. College freshman Rachel Mendelsohn also ran, while Wharton freshman David Burd and College junior Jeremy Fingerman declined their nominations. On the third ballot, Saraiya was elected. Outgoing UA Chairperson Bill Conway said the results of this year's election were unexpected. "I think next year's exec board is one of innumerable talent. I think a lot of people are surprised at what happened here -- not disappointed, but surprised," the Wharton junior said. "The way the body is now, committee chairs are just as high-level as exec board members."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.