Sophomores elected Eric Buchman and Lauren Hickey 2000 Class Council president and vice president, respectively, in a BlitzMail election at the end of Summer term.
Buchman and Hickey are both on leave terms this term, however, and in their place, the council elected Will Schoen '00 as interim president and John Phinney '00 as interim vice president at their meeting last night, according to Thad Glowacki '00.
The council also elected Glowacki Class treasurer and Nefertari Daaga '00 council secretary last night. Glowacki said the positions of treasurer and secretary will be elected on a term-by-term basis.
The 2000 Class Council decided last winter, in an effort to give each member of the class a chance to vote, to hold elections for president and vice president in the summer, when all members of the class are required to be on campus.
Buchman was elected in an all-BlitzMail vote, in which 301 students turned in ballots. Behind Buchman's majority of 142 votes were Phinney with 107 and Joe Brown '00, who received 22. Though there were a variety of write-in candidates, none received enough votes to be considered a viable entry.
Voter turnout was up by about 10 percent from last year, according to Director of Collis Center and Student Activities Mark Hoffman.
"We normally get about 20 to 30 percent of the students vote, so this is pretty good," he said.
Buchman planned to be on campus this term, but is home in Tampa, Fl. for personal reasons. He said in a telephone interview, however, he plans on staying active in campus activities this term through the Programming Board and Class Council.
He criticized past junior councils for not having more initiative, especially in the first few months of Fall term. He acknowledged that many juniors are not on campus, but said "'00s need to stay proportionately active."
Buchman's plans for this fall had been to coordinate a number of events for the newly arrived freshmen because last year, he said, "they were sort of on their own." Though he will not be on campus, he said he hopes the class council will carry on in the spirit of his policies.
Last year, Buchman organized the Festival D'Artmouth during Winter term, as well as the Sophomore Family Weekend. This year, however, he said he was unsure whether or not the 2000 Class Council has enough members to organize an event as big as the arts festival, which he felt was an effective way for many classes to come together.
