Whitney Green named ESC president

Whitney Green, SEAS ’10 and Engineering Student Council secretary, won the race for ESC president on Monday evening.

Lerner’s Satow Room was filled with suspense as internal elections for the ESC Executive Board ran into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, naming next year’s president, vice president of intergroup, vice president of policy, vice president of student life, and secretary.

Each candidate was given five minutes to speak, the order being drawn before the speeches to ensure fairness. Each received three questions from council members and an audience, and then the council closed its doors to the public for an internal election. The process will be completely open next year.

During her candidate platform speech, Green spoke of her devotion to ESC.

“ESC is not just another activity to me,” she said. “This is my heart.”

Aside from Green, the victors were Gunnar Aasen, SEAS ’10 and ESC ’10 class representative for vice president of intergroup; Kelly Chen, SEAS ’10 and class representative for vice president of policy; Chris Elizondo, SEAS ’11 and ESC vice president for vice president of student life; and Heidi Ahmed, SEAS ’11—the only winner not already on ESC—for secretary.

Aasen won the position of vice president of intergroup against opponents Kimberly Lipman-White, SEAS ’11 and current Columbia College Student Council liaison, and Varun Gulati, SEAS ’11. Aasen’s platform included the making of the intergroup communications process “more intuitive and more streamlined.”

Chen, now vice president of policy, beat Emma Lebwohl, SEAS ’11 and student services representative; Albert Miller, SEAS ’11 and class representative; and Eric Hirani, SEAS ’11 and alumni affairs and Center for Career Education representative. Sam Braiman, SEAS ’11, dropped out of the race during the process. Chen’s plans include erecting billboards outside Mudd and revamping the Carlton lounge. She also wants to further publicize ESC initiatives.

Elizondo—who won after the longest deliberation and one of the closest races—became the new vice president of student life, edging out Joffre Andrade, SEAS ’10 and 2010 vice president. Elizondo’s platform included hosting a free dinner to entice students to distribute flyers for ESC events, an event workshop for first-year council members in becoming acquainted with event planning, and a SEAS formal—all part of his effort to get “council members involved in initiatives and events.”

The final race of the night went to Ahmed—not currently on the council—who beat current Graduate Student Commitee liaison Epsita Hoque, SEAS ’11, and Jennifer Vettel, SEAS ’11. Ahmed, who has worked on the 2011 class council for the past two years, said that she wanted to move from class council to a council with wider representation. She also wants to work with the other engineering groups in the school in order to hear “a voice from everywhere.”