Last night at the Student Activities Council's executive board election, leaders from nearly 200 campus groups gathered to elect four new students to lead them as their SAC officials.
Eleven candidates campaigned for seats on the board. The four newly elected members are College junior Michael Keutmann of the Penn Glee Club, Soundworks Tap Factory and the Penn Pipers; College sophomore Cristina Suroiu of the Undergraduate Psychology Society; Wharton and College sophomore Varun Sureka of PenNaatak and Penn Masala and College junior Michael Hogg of Penn Singers.
The SAC executive board is made up of nine members, four of whom turn over each semester so that at any given time, there are at least four experienced members on the board. The ninth official is the current Undergraduate Assembly treasurer.
Executive elections are held every semester for yearlong terms and most anyone who is an officer on a SAC-recognized group is eligible to run.
The internal elections to determine positions within the SAC executive board will take place tomorrow.
Although the newcomers might think the hard part is over, SAC president and Wharton senior Simon Bland said that he will be watching them closely in the coming months.
Bland said that he took diligent notes during each of the candidates' speeches and feels that "it is one of [his] jobs to hold them accountable and make sure they follow through with their election campaign."
The campaign speeches overwhelmingly stressed approachability, dialogue, financial responsibility, communication and more communication -- qualities in which SAC, according to Bland, has made "leaps and bounds," particularly in his term so far.
"I want to foster a better understanding so that SAC understands the organizations that are under it so we can help them even better," Sureka said.
Hogg echoed these sentiments, saying that next year he hopes to "encourage communication and active dialogue on a wider scope."
Suroiu was one of the few candidates to run under an actual slogan -- "A Kinder and Gentler SAC."
"I just want to have groups be more active and get better funding," she added, and half joked that as a member of the Undergraduate Psychology Society, she would not only help groups but she would try to help people as well.
SAC plays an important role with cultural, political, academic and performance groups on campus by allocating them budgets. SAC has been working with the approximate $600,000 granted to them by the UA this year.
"It is more than just allocation," said Wharton junior Omar Vasquez, a SAC board member and Mock Trial president. "It is a way to unite the student groups here at Penn."
Former SAC board member and Engineering junior Corey Kanon agreed and said that SAC provides a "source to help groups better themselves."
And according to Bland, SAC is in a financially stable situation.
"We are now in a position where we can be fair, regardless of money," Bland said, referring to SAC's discriminatory power in recognizing and funding campus groups.
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