UPDATED: April 28, 2017, at 2:17 p.m.
Ian Sullivan ’18 and running mate Matthew Ferguson ’18 were elected as Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively, the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee announced Tuesday night.
Sullivan received 707 of the 1,960 votes for SA president. Garrison Roe ’18 and Aaron Cheese ’18 finished in second and third place with 646 and 580 votes, respectively. Ferguson received 718 of the 1,960 votes for vice president, with Sydney Walter ’18 (706 votes), who ran with Roe, and Austin Heye ’18 (508 votes), who ran with Cheese, coming in second and third, respectively.
The number of ballots cast this year represents an increase from previous elections, with 1,556 ballots cast in the 2016 election and 1,632 in 2015. EPAC chair Derek Whang ’17 attributed the larger number of students that voted to a new voting system through the OrgSync interface and increased publicity of the election.
Matthew Goldstein ’18 and John Glance ’18 were elected 2018 Class Council president and vice president, respectively, both running unopposed. Goldstein received 282 of 603 votes for Class Council president, and Glance received 279 of 604 votes for Classic Council vice president.
In order of most to least votes, Danny Li ’19, Josephine Kalshoven ’19 and Asaad A. Al Raeesi ’19 were elected as 2019 Class Council executives. Lily Clark ’20, Lizzy Clark ’20 and Brandon Yu ’20 were elected as 2020 Class Council executives.
Nicole Beckman ’20, Bradford Stone ’19, Glance, Dhungjoo Kim ’19, Cory Shoshany ’19 and Richard Yang ’19 were selected as members of the Committee on Standards/Organizational Adjudication Committee. Beckman received 829 votes — with Stone and the others receiving 596 or less — which was the greatest number of votes any individual candidate received in the election.
Write-in candidate Jarrett Taylor'18from the Class of 2018, Kenneth Moussavian ’19 and Kojo Edzie ’20 were selected as Allen House Senate seat winners. Michael Colon '18, Lauren Huff '19 and Devon Kurtz '20, all write-in candidates, were selected as East Wheelock House Senate seat winners. Barry Yang '18, Carolyn Zhou '19 and Luke Cuomo '20, all write-in candidates, were selected as North Park House Senate seat winners. Write-in candidate Alma Wang '18, Shoshany and Yu were selected as School House Senate seat winners. Write-in candidate Monik Walters '18, Richard Yang ’19 and Jamie Park ’20 were selected as South House Senate seat winners. Write-in candidate Jarely Lopez '18, Matthew Riley ’19 and Timothy Holman ’20 were selected as West House Senate seat winners.
Sullivan said that one of his main goals is to convince College officials to reinstate need-blind admissions for international students, a policy that ended in 2015. Sullivan said this reinstatement will be his priority because he feels that it is unfair to consider international applicants’ ability to pay tuition when making admissions decisions. He noted his desire for Dartmouth to set an example for other institutions to follow; currently, only Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Amherst College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have need-blind admissions procedures for international applicants. He said that Student Assembly will have a role in doing so by discussing the topic with College officials in policy meetings.
Sullivan also hopes to position the residential system as a complement to the Greek system, rather than an opponent. He added that he wants to increase the transparency of Student Assembly by providing the student body with monthly updates detailing what the Assembly has accomplished or is planning to do.
Beckman said that she is looking forward to increasing awareness of College policies among the student body, faculty and staff as part of her role on the COS/OAC, which adjudicates students and organizations who have been accused of College policy violations. She explained that students sometimes misunderstand or are not aware of College rules and regulations. Beckman said that while she is proud to be the only woman elected to the COS/OAC in this election, she does not expect that this will change the way she approaches her duties.
“The issues that [Judicial Affairs] deals with, such as academic dishonesty and drinking and drug violations, are fairly universal [across genders],” she said.
Beckman added that she feels it is important that the demographics of the COS/OAC align with those of the student body.
Yu said he hopes to increase the importance of the house system both in his role on the 2020 Class Council and as a School House representative. He added that since members of the Class of 2020 are the first class that will experience the house system for the entirety of their time at Dartmouth, they have a unique opportunity to set a precedent that will dictate the role of the house system in campus life for future classes. Yu also said he is looking forward to bringing a diverse perspective to Student Assembly and hopes his election will encourage other minority students to run in the future.
“I think my perspective as a low-income student and a person of color will greatly benefit Student Assembly and [the campus community],” Yu said.
Al Raeesi said he was surprised by the fact that only three students ran for three openings on the 2019 Class Council. He said he was especially eager to run given that the House system is relatively new and in a critical stage of its development and is excited to bring a new perspective to the Council as both an international and transfer student.
Goldstein is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
April 28, 2017: This article has been updated to include the names of write-in candidate winners following screening by Judicial Affairs and confirming interest in serving.
