Undergraduate Council of Students Vice President Jason Carroll ’21 and Chair of Campus Life Zanagee Artis ’22 are running for UCS president in this year’s UCS and Undergraduate Finance Board elections. Appointments Chair Sam Caplan ’22 and UCS Treasurer Summer Dai ’22 will vie for the UCS Vice President position.
UFB At-Large Representative Akilesh Raman ’22 is running unopposed for UFB Chair, and At-Large Representative Anika Ahluwalia ’23 is running unopposed for UFB Vice Chair.
The two candidates for UCS president represent a decrease in the number of people vying for the position from last year, when William Zhou ’20 defeated Vanessa Garcia ’20.5 and Melissa Lee ’20.
The uncontested races for UFB Chair and Vice Chair also mark a decrease in candidates from last year’s elections, in which Julian De Georgia ’20 ran against Alesandro Walker ’20 for chair and three at-large members of UFB vied for the vice chair position.
“Throughout this process, we’ve encouraged all potential candidates to run for the position that will best work for their balance of interests, academics, personal life and other activities,” wrote Elections Board Co-Chairs Mary Stack ’21 and Alex Song ’20 in an email to The Herald. “There were a number of students who were interested in (UFB Chair and Vice Chair) throughout the past few weeks but conflicts like plans to study abroad, leadership in other student groups and simply the workload of being in UFB leadership have arisen.”
Deepak Gupta ’22, Sarah Stack ’23 and UCS First-Year Representative Joon Nam ’23 are running for Chair of Academic Affairs, an increase from last year when Livingstone Harriot ’20 ran uncontested for the position. Madison Verschleiser ’22, Ricky Zhong ’23 and UCS First-Year Representative Zane Ruzicka ’23 will compete for Chair of Campus Life. Leona Hariharan ’23 and Jai’el Toussaint ’22 are vying for the new Chair of Equity and Inclusion position, which was proposed and approved earlier this semester, The Herald previously reported. Suyash Kothari ’23 and UFB At-Large Representative Claire Brown ’22 are running for Chair of Student Activities, and UCS Secretary Grace Johnson ’22, Deborah Meirowitz ’22.5 and Justin Perry '23 will contend for Chair of Student Wellness.
Eight candidates are running for the seven available UFB at-large representative spots. In a change from previous elections, one of the eight at-large member spots on the Board will be filled by an incoming first year to be elected in the fall, according to Stack and Song. Current At-Large Representatives Kushagra Agarwal ’22, Gianna DeVincenzo ’22 and Mukul Khanna ’23 are running alongside former At-Large Representative Nimo Ismail ’21 and Mahira Khan ’23, Amienne Spencer-Blume ’23, Abhinav Sriram ’23 and Harshini Venkatachalam ’23, who are not at-large members.
“We are super excited for the large turnout we have this year, especially for UCS and UFB At-Large Representative positions,” Stack and Song wrote. “This reflects our efforts to increase election visibility and accessibility.”
UCS President, UCS Vice President, UFB Chair and UFB Vice Chair candidates will participate in a public debate Friday afternoon. Stack and Song wrote that the debate will “likely involve a livestream to satellite rooms, so we can maintain engagement, but also address health concerns” in light of the University’s recent policy regarding COVID-19.
Student groups planning to endorse candidates will have three days after the debate to do so. Voting for all positions through an online form sent to all undergraduate students will begin at 5 p.m. Monday, March 16 and conclude at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 19.
Correction: A previous version of this article did not include Justin Perry '23 as a candidate for Chair of Student Wellness. The Herald regrets the error.
