After tallying the votes cast by 1,432 freshmen -- the most in any recent year -- the Nominations and Elections Committee functioned in two ways last night, to both disqualify a candidate and to announce the winners of the freshman election.
The NEC disqualified College freshman Lisa Zhang after determining she had violated the Fair Practice Code by exceeding the $50 candidate spending limit and submitting inaccurate spending forms.
In last night's hearing, NEC Grievance Officer Peter Christodoulou asserted that Zhang had "falsified" her spending form. He reported how Zhang changed the amount of posters she produced from 93 to 48 on her spending form after learning each copy costs 65 cents. Zhang later recorded the amount of copies she made as 41. According to Christodoulou, the inconsistencies in her story placed Zhang under suspicion.
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Election winners
UA reps:
Clara Bracke
Jason Karsh
Brett Lacher
Matthew Leskowitz
Jason Mischel
Kam Moukwa
Sunny Patel
Seth Shapiro
Class board: President: Puneet Singh VP: Isaac Dayan VP for Corporate Sponsorship: Azim Munivar Secretary: Beth Newton Treasurer: Ali Lapinskyn Reps: Adam Dulberg (SAS), Sunny Patel (SAS), Sarah Jiang (SEAS), Dan Dvor (Wharton), Cindy Lou Cuesta (Nursing) |
Zhang admitted that, even according to her new calculations, she did overspend but said that it was an "honest mistake."
"I'm here because my integrity has been brought into question," Zhang said, adding that she resented the use of the word "falsify" in the claims against her.
The audience at the hearings was sympathetic to Zhang.
"Lisa defended herself really well. ... Before, [I was] under the impression she did it with malicious intent," Undergraduate Assembly candidate and Wharton and College freshman Xiang Li said. "The wording of the charge should be changed."
Deliberations following the hearing lasted over an hour, after which Zhang was disqualified.
Despite the verdict, Zhang felt vindicated by the hearing.
"Hey, I already won," Zhang said. "I clarified [that], no, I wasn't scamming anybody."
NEC Chairman Eli Schlam was also pleased with the results.
It "went exactly the way it's supposed to go," he said. The NEC "looked at rules governing the elections and ruled based on facts that a violation has occurred."
The NEC also announced the winners of the freshman UA and class board elections.
Class board presidential winner and Wharton freshman Puneet Singh was pleased by his victory.
"Obviously, [it's] really exciting after campaigning for so long," he said. "I really need to learn how to balance having fun and getting things done."
Vice presidential winner and Wharton freshman Isaac Dayan was similarly excited.
"I didn't think I had a chance against the other candidates," he said, adding, "I'm glad I was trusted with this responsibility."
Dayan said that he plans to celebrate his victory by taking his "hall out to ice cream."
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