'Dark horse' Hamlin wins top UA post

Expressing a desire to distance itself from last year's body, the Undergraduate Assembly elected "dark horse" candidate Seth Hamlin as its chairperson Friday night. "I can bring a breath of fresh air to this UA," the College sophomore said in his campaign speech before UA members. Hamlin defeated UA Vice Chairperson and College junior Kirsten Bartok and UA Treasurer and Wharton sophomore Eric Leathers in what many members said they had believed would be a tight race. But Hamlin garnered a majority of votes -- 13 in all -- on the first ballot and eliminated Bartok and Leathers from the competition. Hamlin said his philosophy as chairperson will be to create a UA where "a body of 25 people are all working on something they really care about." He added last night that University students are "going to have a leader who is going to take student government to the next level." He said he wants to eliminate the excessive bureaucracy of the current committee structure, by establishing three larger, more flexible groups that deal with budgets, campus facilities and student life. Outgoing UA Chairperson Jeff Lichtman said he was "a little surprised" by the election's outcome, but added that he thought Hamlin would serve well. "The enthusiasm and the new energy on the assembly which Seth personifies will help him overcome his youth and inexperience," Lichtman said. "I'm confident that his positives will clearly outweigh his potential inexperience." Hamlin said the Coalition for Responsive Student Government -- which has 11 members on the UA but of which he is not a member -- helped him win the race. "They definitely were throwing a lot of support in my direction," Hamlin said. "I have a feeling that that helped me immensely." Coalition President Darion D'Anjou said Hamlin appealed to a number of his group's members. "Seth is the candidate who embodies the agenda of a lot of the people from the Coaltion," D'Anjou, a Wharton junior, said. Before the vote was taken, Leathers said "it didn't go as well as I had expected." Bartok said last night that, as the election for chairperson approached, she sensed that the balloting might not go her way. "I think the tide turned later on in the election," Bartok said. Scott Sher, a College junior and Coalition member, ran unopposed for vice chairperson. In his campaign speech, he said his main goal for the year will be "to restructure the internal UA." He said he also wants to solve the UA's "public relations problem." "We're going to have to correct the image problem among the students at Penn about the UA," Sher said. "This is a completely different body." Winning the treasurer position was College freshman Ashley Magids. She defeated Wharton freshman Dan Debicella. And in the evening's most hotly-contested race, College freshman Marissa Mole defeated fellow College freshman Lance Rogers after four tied ballots. Bartok was elected as the UA's representative to the University Council steering committee, making her the only member returning to the UA steering committee. The four offices and the Council representative compose the UA steering committee. Hamlin said he wants to change the way the UA steering commitee operates. "A whole different kind of steering board is going to guide us through this," he said.