When members of the Class of 1998 go to the polls next month to elect their president and vice president for senior year, they will find themselves staring at a blank ballot.
The March 7 deadline for submitting petitions to run for elective offices has come and gone -- and no one from the junior class has entered his or her name on the ballot for either of the two highest elected offices in the '98 class.
As a result, the campaign will be one between strictly write-in candidates.
Within the past week, James Horowitz '98, who has been active on the Student Assembly, and Kevin Arista '98, who is involved with the Class Council, have decided to run as write-in candidates for president.
Even with the two new additions to the race, many are interpreting the overall dearth of candidates as indicative of general apathy on the part of the class as a whole.
Both President Randi Barnes '98 and Vice President Chris Atwood '98 opted not to seek re-election because of time constraints and the anticipated challenges of senior year. Atwood said he did not feel he had "the time or the initiative" to be one of the Class Council leaders anymore.
And instead of a scramble to succeed the president who has served for three years and the vice president who has served for two, no one came forward and put his or her name on the ballot.
But although the ballot will be empty, class leaders are confident that the write-in election will be competitive.
Barnes, through a class-wide electronic-mail message, invited all members of the Class of 1998 to attend a forum on Wednesday night to address the future of the 1998 Class Council.
Barnes said she hoped others would step forward to replace her. "I thought it would be better to have some new energy," she said.
Despite continuous recruitment efforts, the membership of the Class Council has dwindled steadily since freshman year, according to both Atwood and Barnes.
Class leaders offered various reasons for this lack of interest.
"I think that it is an indication of apathy," Atwood said. "Randi and I have run the Class Council since our freshman year. Since then, there has been a real lack of interest in our Class Council."
Barnes said '98s are involved in other aspects of the College, and their lack of interest in Class Council does not necessarily translate into apathy. "I think our class is a very active class, just not in that realm," she said.
Simone Swink '98, who has been active on the Assembly, agreed that her class is involved, "but not in the traditional venues."
Horowitz and Arista both suggested many potential candidates may have assumed Barnes was going to seek re-election and therefore did not look to get their names on the ballot. Arista said he "would have applied sooner" had he known Barnes was not seeking re-election.
Horowitz said the two positions are thankless ones that require a lot of effort and do not necessarily offer immediate rewards.
"It takes a certain kind of person; a different kind of person from a Student Assembly President," he said. But the juniors' lack of interest in leadership positions in general could be an indication of a trend of apathy, Horowitz said.
Only one '98 is currently running for Student Assembly president, while two '99s are seeking the position, he said. In the elections for the Green Key Society, the Class of '98 last year posted only 19 applications for the 20 available positions, while at least 70 '99s applied this year, Horowitz said.
"I'm starting to think something's the matter with our class," he said.
Chris Swift '98, the current Assembly vice president, said there are other reasons for the lack of '98 candidates.
"Demographics aren't conducive to involvement," he said, emphasizing the shortage of '98s on campus last Fall.
Swift also said the most active members of the class already have their hands full.
Swift and Swink said the turmoil in the Student Assembly during their freshman year -- when President Danielle Moore '95 resigned and new president Rukmini Sichitiu '95 and vice president John Honovich '97 feuded -- may have turned '98s away from becoming politically involved.
Unai Montes-Irueste '98, who ran for Assembly president last year, said he believes the lack of '98 interest in the Class Council and the Assembly has to do with underlying problems with the two bodies.
"I don't think you could say that the '98 class is any more apathetic than any other class," he said, but the goals and purposes of class councils in general are somewhat ambiguous.
Barnes said it will take quite a presence to renew the council's energy.
"I don't think the issue is that no one's running," she said. "We just need to make sure it's a strong group of people."
