Short one, class board run-offs start

Run-off elections for the offices of Senior Class Board president, vice president, secretary and College representatives will be held today on Locust Walk. But missing from the run-offs is College junior Liz Goldman, who was removed Tuesday night from the vice-presidential race. Goldman was disqualified by the Class of 1993 Senior Board -- the body which runs the elections -- for appearing in a photo which ran in Friday's Daily Pennsylvanian. Wharton senior Brooke Hayes, current Senior Class Board treasurer, said Goldman was in violation of a rule which prevents candidates from appearing in the DP during campaign periods. "A candidate is responsible for any press regarding his or her candidadcy," Hayes said, quoting the rule. But Goldman said last night that she thinks the process is unfair. "It makes a whole mockery of the system," Goldman said. "I talked to them for hours, and I still don't know what I did wrong." Hayes said he would not explain the criteria for Goldman's disqualification, saying only that the body concluded "that it was a violation of the code and it gave her an unfair advantage. Hayes added that it was a unanimous decision. Goldman said the Class of 1993 Board did not properly investigate her case. "The Senior Class Board did not do anything," Goldman said. "They didn't even talk to the two other people in the picture." She added that she thinks the rules should be reformed. "The whole thing is playing a game," Goldman said. "It was 100 percent out of control." Wharton junior Ethan Youderian, an unsuccessful candidate for president, said he sees the process as unfair, adding, however, that the DP is partly to blame. "I personally think that press bans on all elections are not the best idea," Youderian, a Wharton junior, said. "And I also think that it wasn't a good decision on part of the DP knowing that the possible consequences of their actions was disqualifying someone." Current Senior Class Board President Michael Rosenband would not comment on the issue. Goldman's disqualification is not the first of its kind. Two years ago, then-junior Marisa Sifontes -- a candidate for Senior Class Board secretary -- was disqualified because she was quoted in a DP story unrelated to the election. Last year, Kerry Kennedy -- a Senior Class Board presidential candidate -- was removed from the race for violating a poster-hanging policy. Tomorrow's run-off for presidency will be between Matt Canner and Laura Lieberman. Robbyn Leventhal and Parnell Clitus will be in the run-off for vice-president. Suzanne Berman and Julie Shoemaker are in the race for secretary, and Debbie Algazy, Sean Gallagher, Dana Reback and Julia Rose are in the hunt for the College's two representative seats. A few offices were decided after the first round of ballotting. College junior Mandee Heller was elected treasurer, College junior Heather Danzig was chosen historian, Engineering junior Pam Jarosky will be Engineering representative and Wharton junior Jen Berrent will be Wharton representative. Nursing junior Barb Guckin, who ran unopposed, will be the new Nursing representative.