Sunday night, after almost seven hours of deliberation, the Undergraduate Assembly elected College junior Cynthia Ip, College sophomore Jake Shuster and College freshman Will Smith as Speaker, Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.
Ip, Shuster and Smith will join Wharton and Engineering junior Tyler Ernst, UA president, and Wharton junior Faye Cheng, UA vice president, to serve on the 2011-2012 UA Executive Board.
Ip, the former UA secretary, defeated College junior Amanda Young to become UA speaker by a 17-6 vote with one abstention.
Shuster, the former UA Civic and Philadelphia Engagement Committee director, defeated College sophomore Jon Monfred for the position of UA Treasurer by a 18-3 with two abstentions.
Shuster’s campaign for UA reelection this year was based on his nickname “Shuster, the money booster.”
Shuster explained that it was his intention to ultimately run for UA treasurer.
In the closest race of the night, Smith defeated Engineering and College junior Isabel Fan to become UA secretary by a 14-8 vote.
Smith, who has served on the UA Academic Affairs Committee and oversaw this year’s UA airport shuttles for winter and spring breaks, is excited about the potential for his position.
Although he cited the important work Ip has done in the past year as secretary, he believes that more can be done.
“I want to make our minutes and our records accessible to the student body and work with the UA communications director to increase transparency, openness and make the student body more aware of what their student government is doing for them,” Smith said.
Smith will be the youngest member of the 2011-2012 Executive Board.
“After only one year, it feels a little strange on the one hand, but it also feels rewarding, justifying all the hard work I’ve done this year,” he added.
Ernst is “happy” about the addition of a rising sophomore, junior and another senior to the Executive Board.
It will bring a “diversity of perspectives [which also] helps for institutional memory and a continuation of UA leadership,” he said.
Wharton senior and Nominations and Elections Committee Chairman Nick Greif, who chaired the UA transition meeting, was pleased with the internal election process at last night’s meeting.
“I saw a lot of thoughtful discourse and fair consideration of all the candidates,” he said.
Ernst agreed. “I thought the level of the debate was really instructive and well thought out,” he said.
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