Barnard Elections Kick Off as Online Voting Opens

Voting will begin tonight for a relatively calm round of Student Government Association elections.

Starting at 10 p.m. Tuesday, Barnard students will be able to log on to eBear to vote for next year’s SGA executive, representative, and class councils. While these positions are typically very competitive, this year many candidates—including all those running for positions on the executive board—will run uncontested.

Sarah Besnoff, BC ’09 and current SGA vice president, will run unchallenged for the position of SGA president. According to her platform, Besnoff plans to revise Barnard’s curriculum—the Nine Ways of Knowing—update the housing selection and L-course sign-up procedures, and “empower Barnard students about the BC-CU [Barnard-Columbia] partnership.” Besnoff also promises to create greater “transparency and accountability” by publicizing SGA resolutions and creating a “centralized complaint Web site” for each academic department.

Below Besnoff, candidates for the executive board are Amy Chen, BC ’10, for Vice President of Finance, Kathryn Palillo, BC ’10, for Vice President of Communications, and Maria Morad, BC ’09, for Vice President of Student Activities. Since there is currently no candidate for SGA vice president, that position will be filled later through an unspecified appointment process, according to Mai Eldib, BC ’08, a member of the elections commission.

Last fall, a string of hate crimes and the student hunger strike sparked university-wide discussions on race and diversity. In light of those events, it seems fitting that the most competitive position in the upcoming election will be the Representative for Diversity. Three candidates—Nancy Shon, Nicole Velazquez, and Sophie Soares, all BC ’09—will vie for that post. The candidates for Academic Affairs Representative—Muzna Ansari and Maisha Rashid, both BC ’10—emphasized in their platforms the importance of a “critical discussion of race and ethnicity,” and Ansari argued that “the Nine Ways of Knowing must be improved to better reflect issues of gender, class, race, and ethnicity.”

The representative council positions of Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees, Representative for University Programming, and Community Affairs Representative will also be up for grabs with two candidates contending for each post.

Jamie Prem, BC ’09 and current junior class president, will run uncontested for the position of Senior Class President. The title of Senior Class Vice President will be much more competitive, as incumbent vice president Jenny Kim will face two other current class council members—Akansha Chhabra, Junior Class Treasurer, and Katie Goble, Junior Class Secretary and Prem’s running mate.

All other candidates for class council positions will go unchallenged, with the exception of Sophomore Class Vice President and Sophomore Class Secretary, which have two candidates each.

Uncontested candidates must still receive 50 percent of the vote to secure their positions, Eldib said.

Elections will kick off tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Lewis Parlor with a candidate forum and speeches. Candidates launched their official campaigns by posting fliers around campus starting at 10 p.m. Monday.

Voting will conclude on Friday, April 11 at 2 p.m., and results will be released shortly thereafter.

stephanie.turner@columbiaspectator.com