Maahika Srinivasan ’15 was elected the next president of the Undergraduate Council of Students and Sazzy Gourley ’16 was elected vice president, announced Heather Sabel ’17, UCS Elections Board chair, on the Faunce steps at midnight Friday.
Srinivasan defeated Jonathan Vu ’15 and Asia Nelson ’15 with 54 percent of the vote, while Gourley topped Alex Drechsler ’15 with 67 percent of the vote.
Undergraduates cast 2,991 votes in the election — a slight increase from last year’s runoff UCS presidential election, and a roughly 49 percent rise from last year’s initial voting period, when 2,008 votes were cast.
“I’m feeling incredible, so proud of everything that my friends have done, that everyone has done for me,” Srinivasan said after the announcement was made. “I’m feeling really ambitious about everything that we can do. I’m really excited about everything we can, we should and we will do.”
Gourley said he looks forward to bringing to fruition the ideas he heard from students over the course of his campaign. “I’m really excited to continue the conversations with students that I’ve started so far, and continue to move those forward in a way that reflects how students themselves want them to be moved forward,” he said.
“I’m very confident knowing Maahika will do a great job in the coming year as president,” Vu said. “I wish the new administration all the best. As always, I’ll be here to help the Brown community any way I can.”
Though he has not “entirely decided yet” how he will participate in UCS in the coming year, he said, “I really just want to be involved in some way.”
“I had an amazing time running,” Nelson told The Herald. “I really felt like I grew as a person in these last seven days.”
Nelson said she is certain she will continue participating in the Council next year. “Our retention rate is one of the most important aspects” of UCS, she said. “I will work to continue to bridge the gap between the University administration and the student body, no matter what position I have.”
Drechsler expressed his commitment to continue working on the issues that he focused on during his campaign. “Obviously I’m disappointed, but I am very energized by everybody I’ve met, and I’m looking forward to working with them,” he said. Drechsler added that he was happy to see some of his main priorities regarding student representation gain traction in the election.
Ryan Lessing ’17 was elected chair of Admissions and Student Services and Walker Mills ’15 was elected chair of Campus Life, each with 51 percent of the vote. E-Soo Kim ’15 was elected chair of Student Activities with 54 percent of the vote, and Malikah Williams ’16 was elected treasurer with 72 percent of the vote. Elena Saltzman ’16, running uncontested, was elected chair of the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee.
Alex Sherry ’15 and Dakotah Rice ’16, both unopposed, were elected chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Undergraduate Finance Board.
For the eight UFB at-large representative positions, all eight candidates were elected: Thomas Abebe ’17, Jordan Ferguson ’17, Florene Frenot ’16, Fredrick Rhine ’15, Sameer Sarkar ’16, Carolyn Stichnoth ’16, Matt Wood ’17 and Richard Yue ’16. Frenot is a Herald copy editor, and Sarkar is one of The Herald’s directors of finance. Gaurav Nakhare ’15, running unopposed, was elected Ivy Council head delegate.
No write-in candidates for any positions received over 5 percent of the vote to qualify for consideration in the official elections process, Sabel announced.
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