The Undergraduate Council of Students appointed two new members to its elections board at its general body meeting Wednesday.
Ian Eppler ’13, a former Herald opinions columnist, and Mikala Murad ’16 will help facilitate the process for this month’s elections. They will join Caleb Miller ’16, elections board chair and Herald senior staff writer, and Miyo Malouf ’16, elections board vice chair. Though Eppler and Murad are not UCS members, Miller said both seem qualified.
The elections board has been holding mandatory information sessions for candidates this week, the last of which is on Friday, Miller said. Candidates for elected positions must turn in petitions to run by Monday’s candidates meeting.
UCS President Anthony White ’13 said he met with the moderator of the upcoming debate, Barbara Tannenbaum, senior lecturer in theater arts and performance studies, to finalize preparations for the debate, which will feature candidates for UCS president and vice president.
The debate, which will be cosponsored by The Herald and the UCS elections board, is set to be held April 11.
“We’re hoping it’s going to be a lively debate,” White said in the meeting.
The council also elected four new members to the College Curriculum Council. Roxanne Alaghband ’15 and Gregory Chatzinoff ’15, a former Herald collections manager, were reappointed to the council, and Taylor Lanzet ’15 and Giuliano Marostica ’15 were appointed for the first time. William Gregory ’16 was selected as an alternate. Chatzinoff is the UCS-UFB liaison and Marostica is a UCS general body member.
The council also discussed the possibility of modifying or replacing MyGroups, the student group organizing website. Council members recently met with Timothy Shiner, director of student activities and the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, about “what is working well with MyGroups and what it’s lacking,” said E-Soo Kim ’15, UCS general body member.
Many student groups complain that MyGroups does not feature access to social media, Kim added.
“I like the fact that it’s not another social media site,” said Afia Kwakwa ’14, chair of the Campus Life Committee. “We don’t need another Facebook.”
“MyGroups completely fails as a directory for student groups, especially if you’re a new student. It has an awful interface,” said Holly Hunt ’13, UCS general body member.
Council members are considering moving the student group categorization process to MyGroups or any site that might replace it, Chatzinoff said.
White said he supports moving the categorization process online and making it “paperless.”
“But it is nice to have paper copies,” said Alexander Kaplan ’14, student activities chair and a former Herald staff writer.
Looking ahead, if council members and administrators discontinue MyGroups, they will put out a bid for other contract developers, Chatzinoff said.
Instead of external developers, computer science students could design a replacement for MyGroups, said Todd Harris ’14.5, UCS general body member.
“This is the platform that’s used to keep track of financial records. They may not trust that to students,” Chatzinoff said.
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