Valeiras Elected President of Engineering Student Council

Peter Valeiras, School of Engineering and Applied Science ’09, was named president of the Engineering Student Council last night during the council’s annual internal Executive Board elections.

Valeiras, the current ESC Student Services Representative, ran against Prish Dunstan, SEAS ’09 and current vice president for policy. E-Board positions include president, VP policy, VP intergroup, VP student life, and secretary. The elections are held internally, meaning only members of the council can vote. Both candidates were allowed a five-minute speech, after which they answered questions from both audience and council members.

After losing the presidency to Valeiras, Dunstan ran successfully for re-election as VP Policy.

Both Dunstan and Valeiras emphasized the need to improve relations between ESC and students.

“Students should be encouraged to attend our meetings,” Valeiras said.

While Dunstan called for streamlining communication with SEAS students, Valeiras called for more general interaction between students and the council.

Dunstan proposed setting up a roundtable discussion which would allow students to interact closely with E-Board members. He also spoke of building engineering pride among students by more effectively communicating news about SEAS, such as research or inventions by alumni and faculty. Moreover, seeing a fellow engineer brushing his teeth in Mudd inspired Dunstan to propose beautifying the building—especially Carleton Lounge, the cafeteria.

Valeiras suggested cutting down meeting times once a month to allow students to interact with council members on a more personal level. He also hopes to improve communication between the administration and students.

“There were changes in policy and administrative positions that students were not aware of and were not informed of,” Valeiras said.

Council members expressed concern about how the candidates would handle the transition to a new dean. Other issues included council unity and interactions with the other undergraduate councils—the Columbia College Student Council, Barnard’s Student Government Association, and the General Studies Student Council.

Several weeks ago, shortly before ESC’s annual constitutional review, several council members called for a switch to external elections—an issue that has been revisited year after year. Though the review has not been completed, the council voted to keep E-Board elections internal.

In response to questions about the new dean and interactions with administrators, Valeiras proposed holding events to further communication and administrative involvement in the council’s deliberations. The purpose would be to “have them [administrators] almost appear more human in a way,” Valeiras said. “The dean seems like a high-up person you could never talk to. Getting them to come to events that we throw is the first way to get them to the rest of the student body.”

Valeiras also discussed his motives in running for president and the goals that will drive him during his tenure.

“I really wanted to be involved in every aspect of the ESC,” he said. “As president, I would be able to try and affect the schools in more ways than just policy or programming.

And despite all the difficulties of the position, he said, “I find this as almost a study break to do this stuff. I enjoy my meetings with administrators.”

The position of VP student life went to Huei Ong, CC ’08/SEAS ’09, who ran against three other candidates: Angela Blackwell, SEAS ’11, Daniel Gundrum, SEAS ’10, and Esther Zuckerman, SEAS ’09.

Lauren Minches, SEAS ’09, was elected VP intergroup over Krissie Zambrano, SEAS ’09, and Gunnar Aasen, SEAS ’10.

Dunstan was elected VP policy over Boris Mindzak, SEAS ’09, and Ken Yearwood, SEAS ’09.

Whitney Green, SEAS '10, was elected secretary over Jiaying Xu, SEAS ’11.

ivy.chen@columbiaspectator.com