NEC announces new UA members

The Nominations and Elections Committee announced the 25 winners of Undergraduate Assembly elections last night. Jim Strangio, chairperson of Elections for the Nominations and Elections Committee, also announced that the referendum requesting student support for the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Service passed by a vote of 89 percent to 11 percent. Strangio said 21 percent of the student body participated in the election, which was held this Monday and Tuesday. Only 17 percent of undergraduates voted on the referendum issue. In order for the referendum to be official, 15 percent of the student body have to participate. College sophomore Jonathan Slotkin, UPEMS captain, said he is excited by the results. "We realize that we are not only charged with realizing our own dreams, but the mission is also supported by the student body," he said. "We'll do our best not to fail them." The 12 incumbents who ran for re-election were all successful in retaining their UA seats. The top vote-getter in the College of Arts and Sciences was sophomore Eden Jacobowitz. Also elected were freshmen Mosi Bennett, Josh Gottheimer, Sabrina Gottlieb, Seth Gribetz, Laurie Moldawer and Adam Strunk; sophomores Tamara Dubowitz, Miae Oh, Lance Rogers, David Suh, Eric Tienou and William Walton; and juniors Jessica Pollock and Dan Schorr. Sophomore Dan Debicella was the top winner in the Wharton School of Business. Also elected in Wharton were freshmen Nancy Solnik and Patricia Tsai, and sophomores Quang O and Vincent Scarfaria. Freshmen Todd Sternberg and Courtney Tamburello tied for the sixth Wharton representative position and will participate in a run-off election after spring break, Strangio said. In the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, freshman Manny Calero received the most votes. Sophomore Sundeep Goel, the only other official candidate, also received a UA spot. And sophomore Steven Hong conducted a write-in campaign for the third Engineering spot, receiving enough votes to qualify for the position. At least 28 Engineering students had to write-in a candidate in order for him to qualify for the position, Strangio said. No students from the School of Nursing officially ran for UA. But Nursing freshman Lisa Aspinwall was elected after receiving enough write-in votes to qualify her for the position. Aspinwall needed at least 13 Nursing students to vote for her in order to win. "I think Nursing is an important school that needed to be represented," Aspinwall said last night after the announcement. "I hope I can truly get involved in the UA and help it towards change." Jacobowitz said he was "surprised" that he received the highest number of votes in the College. "I think this finally means that people saw right through the bullshit and saw that I'm just a normal student that had to deal with a lot of racists," he said. The candidates said they are hoping for a "more successful" year with the newly-elected UA board. "The organization has to be restructured in almost every aspect," Schorr said. "People have to focus and we need a sense of mission and a sense of accomplishment." After the winners were announced at the 7 p.m. meeting last night, UA members immediately began to announce their intentions to run for the UA steering committee. Schorr said he plans to run for UA chairperson. And Rogers said he intends to pursue the position of vice chairperson. "In doing so, I want to bring the UA and the student body closer together," he said. "I want to create more student involvement and awareness of the UA and its many, many benefits to the student body as a whole." Other newly-elected members voiced similar sentiments. "One problem that has been a recurring one over the past two years is that students don't know what the hell the UA does, who the hell we are and what the hell we're here for," Dubowitz said. "If they don't know that, there's no point to our existence. Dubowitz added that her main goal for the upcoming year is to inform students "that there is a UA and that we're here for them." Bennett said he hopes the next UA will have a "more productive" year. "This past year was kind of disappointing," he said. "I hope? the students will have more respect for the UA in the future." "I want the UA to be more representative of the views of the student body and not just the views of a select group of individuals," he added. Moldawer said she thinks the UA will "make a real difference this year." Gottlieb agreed, asking the student body to "call me and let me know what issues they are concerned about so I can work on them." And Debicella, who announced his intention to run for UA treasurer, said he feels "optimistic." "It can go anywhere from here," he said. The top vote-getters in each school will be University Council representatives. Gottheimer, Dubowitz, Oh and Schorr were also elected as UC representatives. The one charge of an NEC Fair Practice Code violation, which Strunk had filed against Dubowitz Tuesday, was dropped because "there was no intent to bias the election," Strunk said.