By Steve Babcock

The Student Government Association will elect its next round of officers Wednesday at a Joint Senate meeting in 90 Snell Library. In a departure from past years, all of the offices except one – the vice president for student services – are contested. A debate will be held between candidates for each contested position.

Riding the success of this year’s referendum that raised the Student Activities Fee, SGA hopes that this will be the last year that only they will select their officers. While no official plans for direct elections have been made, senators are confident that a student referendum next year will make the plan a reality in the next election cycle.

The following students are running for elections to posts in SGA for the 2003-04 academic year:

Running for President:

Samuel Klar

Middler

Business Major

Princeton, Mass.

Currently: Senator, former Committee for the Adjustment of the Student Activities Fee Referendum chairman

Klar said he is most proud of his work with the referendum.

“Not because it passed, but because it solicited student opinion and gave them a chance to voice a concern,” he said.

Klar hopes to use the same message and managing skills in the presidency.

“We need to do a better job of soliciting student opinion on the issues because we do a terrible job of it right now,” he said.

Michael Romano

Sophomore

International Business Major

Syracuse, N.Y.

Currently: Executive Vice President for Student Affairs.

Romano’s goals lie with making SGA better at reaching out to students and student groups.

“I’m proud of my work to bridge a better line of communication between student leaders through the student synergy group that met this year,” he said.

He also pointed to the fact that he has received campus-wide support for hiring a sexual assault counselor that he called “unparalleled.”

If elected, Romano wants to put mechanisms in place that will foster more communication between SGA and the average student.

“One of the most essential aspects to the emergence of our organization is to effectively reach out to our constituents,” he said. “Through marketing and outreach like further development of BIG (Boston Intercollegiate Government), we will bring the concerns of students to a higher level.”

Romano is also a proponent of direct elections in SGA, in which every student on campus would vote for the SGA executive board. He said he will make efforts to “finally” bring them to the organization.

Running for Executive Vice President for Student Affairs:

Andres Vargas

Junior

Political Science Major

Los Angeles, Calif.

Currently: Vice President for Academic Affairs

Vargas has dealt with a number of issues pertinent to the changes brought on by Semester Conversion during his tenure as vice president for academic affairs.

“[Semester conversion] wasn’t my ideal priority,” he said. “But it had to become my priority. I feel like we have done a good job with the passing of that information.”

Vargas has also worked this year to implement a new university honor code. In fact, he guaranteed it will be implemented within the near future.

“This is a promise. There will be a new honor code by March of 2004, guaranteed,” he said.

If elected, Vargas also said he plans to expand the role of athletics on campus.

“We have to help get students in the stands,” he said. “In other colleges, athletics is a means for uniting students. Once we have done that, we can also get the word out about things like Student Government.”

Allyson Savin

Freshman

International Business

Cooperstown, N.Y.

Currently: Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs

Savin is one of a number of freshman running in this year’s election. Even though she has only been involved in SGA for a year, she is proud of her handling of the assistant vice president role.

“I hosted a student group summit on campus that really helped to get our name out,” she said. “I’ve been very involved this year, I feel like everyone in Senate knows my name.

If elected, Savin said her focus would be more on the area of diversity and bringing students together.

“I really want to work at strengthening diversity on campus, just as we’ve done this year,” she said. “It’s really all about getting students to work together and getting them more involved.”

Running for Vice President of Financial Affairs:

Lorelei McCollum

Freshman

Computer Science Major

Wilberham, Mass.

Currently: Assistant Vice President for Financial Affairs

In addition to her assistant vice president role, she has also sat on several committees in SGA and co-authored legislation that would have made it mandatory for students to see their advisor once a year.

If elected, McCullom wants to focus on initiatives in interaction with the administration and student groups about their finances she felt were not taken strongly enough this year.

“I want to have the Financial Aid Advisory Council meet, which did not meet this year,” she said. “I also want to focus on educating student groups about the BRC [Budget Review Committee] and what its function is.”

Michael Benson

Middler

Electrical Engineering

Weston, MA

Currently: Vice President of Financial Affairs

Benson, who is the only candidate running for the same position he held this year, said the BRC has taken steps to improve its outreach to student groups this year.

“The BRC is currently finalizing a new student activities manual that will make it more serviceable to students,” he said.

Next year, he wants to extend his involvement with the administration in the budget and spending debates.

“I want to work with the administration to evaluate the way they work with students [for financial aid],” he said. “I also would like to increase the points of contact between myself and the administration to allow for more evaluation of the money spent.”

Also running in this year’s election is outspoken freshman John Guilfoil and Senate Restructuring Committee member Stephanie Raveling for vice president of administration; freshman class president Tom McCann and SGA veteran and Interfraternity Council president Peter Antonellis for vice president of academic affairs; and, in this year’s only uncontested race, Nikki Martino is running for vice president of student services.