9 new members win UA seats in an election marked by apathy

In one of the lowest turnouts ever, a mere 25 Engineering students voted this week to elect junior Eric Spence as their representative to the Undergraduate Assembly. Spence will join eight new freshmen representatives on the UA, Nominations and Elections Committee officials announced last night. After the meeting, NEC officials said they were disappointed with the student body's lack of concern for student government elections. While 31 percent of the freshmen voted on Monday and Tuesday, only three percent of Engineering students voted to fill their one vacancy on the UA. "If people would put more enthusiasm into it, the UA could become a vehicle of power at the University," NEC member Shoshana Schwartz said last night. "This is a sign of apathy on campus." No Nursing School students ran for the school's one seat on the assembly, leaving Nursing students without a representative for the entire academic year. Freshmen who were elected are: Leonard Cooperman, Sarah Doty, Jorge Espinol, Seth Hamlin, Eric Leathers, Brian Morris, Dan Schorr and T.J. Zane. Espinol was the top vote-getter and will hold a seat on University Council. Spence won the Engineering slot, which became available late last month when Engineering junior Tobias Dengel resigned his UA position from Czechoslovakia. Before Dengel's resignation, UA members had voted to allow him to vote by proxy through Spence. The new representatives all had something to say last night, promising their constituents true representation and hard work. "I can bring a new perspective to the UA," Espinol said. "That's why I ran, because I wanted there to be an international student on the assembly. I have different concepts, different issues I think should be considered." And Doty, the only woman who won a seat on the Assembly this week, said she plans to search the UA's agenda for an issue that she can help with. "I want to learn everything I can about the issues we're facing and what students think about them," Doty said. NEC officials also noted last night that the freshmen did not campaign very hard, saying this year's candidates were much less visible than in other years. Schwartz said she thinks the UA's image may have made the candidates not as excited about the election as in her freshman year. And most candidates did not have any platform they were pushing during the campaign. But Doty said she does not think freshman have been here long enough to pick a side on the issues that face the UA this year. "Everyone gave really fake campaign promises and I was offended by that," she said. "I haven't been here long enough to know the issues." Before they announced the winners, the NEC held a hearing for five candidates, including Espinol and Spence, who did not turn in their spending receipts to the NEC office after the polling ended. Although they officially broke the rules, the NEC dropped the charges because they had valid excuses.

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