UMC elects new executive board

Ten students were selected to fill positions on the United Minorities Council Executive Board, standing committees and liaisons at the group's elections last night in the Greenfield Intercultural Center. Wharton sophomore Adriana Lopez, who ran unopposed, was selected as treasurer-elect. She will replace College junior Karen Velazquez next semester. In her election speech, Lopez said she believes her work as a restaurant assistant manager in her home state of Texas and as a customer service representative for the AMTEC Corporation has equipped her with the experience to handle the position of treasurer of the UMC. She said she hopes to engage the UMC in more activities with other student groups next semester. "I want to become active in raising more money for the UMC," Lopez said. Wharton freshman Fred Yee defeated College sophomore Jamila Northington to become corresponding secretary. Northington was elected, though, to the position of recording secretary, defeating College freshman Alexia Rodriguez. Yee said he will "foster group interaction, keep the UMC and its constituent groups up-to-date, and keep with a good talking basis with the administration" as corresponding secretary. Northington's past leadership experience includes serving on the Committee for Celebration of Culture. College sophomore Claudine Chen-Young was elected chairperson of Celebration of Culture. She ran uncontested. The position of Celebration of Culture co-chairperson of Celebration will remain vacant until next semester, current UMC Chairperson Jun Bang said last night. Chen-Young said she intends to bring arts and crafts to next year's Celebration of Culture. Promoting the Celebration of Culture to the "greater Philadelphia area" is also one of her priorities, she added. College sophomore Marcy Bruce and College freshman Steve Kwon defeated Wharton sophomore Raul Quiroga in the race for co-chairpersons of Admissions. Quiroga was elected Connaissance Liaison, however, defeating Rodriguez. Bruce said in her election speech that she hopes to induce "more interaction between Penn and Philadelphia high schools" as co-chairperson-elect of admissions. Kwon said in his election speech that one of his goals as co-chairperson of admissions that he will encourage the Admissions Office to "fund students who can't afford to fly in for the Minority Scholars Invitational Weekend." Although Quiroga had hoped to be elected co-chairperson of admissions, he said he is happy that he won Connaissance liaison." "My initial reaction was that I still feel I can give a lot to the UMC by being the Connaissance liaison," he said. Quiroga said he intends next semester to "get more diverse minority speakers" to visit the campus through Connaissance. College sophomore Diana Flores was selected to serve as Social Planning and Events Committee liaison. She ran unopposed. In her election speech, she said she was running for the position because "it is important for minority groups to be involved with non-minority groups." "SPEC is a campus-wide group," Flores added. Also running unopposed, College sophomore Angela Toledo was elected as Houston Hall Liaison. She said next year she hopes to "see the UMC become more united, and to have it become more known on campus." At the UMC President's Meeting on March 16, College junior Liz Melendez was elected chairperson, defeating College junior and current UMC Corresponding Secretary Shreya Patel. Wharton junior Jenny Ho was elected vice chairperson at the March 16 meeting as well. Yesterday's elections were postponed a week because of poor candidate turnout at last week's scheduled meeting.