Forty students to compete for 25 spots on UA

Debicella decides not to run Forty students declared their candidacy for the Undergraduate Assembly at yesterday's introductory UA meeting, up from 29 last year. They will compete in next week's election for 25 seats on the UA. Although an increased number of students have announced they will be running for UA positions, many current members have decided not to seek re-election. Only 12 out of the 33 UA incumbents are running for re-election, and none of the members of the UA Steering Committee -- including UA Chairperson and Wharton junior Dan Debicella -- will vie for positions in the upcoming race. "I do not think I have anything more to contribute to the UA," Debicella said. "We got everything done that we set out to do." Debicella added that he did not want to play the role of spoiler in the next student assembly. "I don't want to be the Dan Schorr of the next UA -- I don't want to be criticizing their chair," he said, referring to the UA member, a College senior. Debicella also discussed some of the difficulties he has observed during his tenure. "The problem with the UA is the petty in-fighting rather than the members working together against the administration," he said. "I think I was disappointed with the bullshit politics that went on." Although Schorr, the UA's University Council steering representative, is a graduating senior, the rest of the UA's board are either sophomores or juniors. They each named different reasons for their decision not to seek re-election. Wharton sophomore and UA member Nancy Solnik said that she is not running because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of student government. There are two proposals for overhauling student government through constitutional reform on next week's ballot. "I prefer not to run for something that may or may not exist next year in its present form," she said. Although Wharton junior Vincent Scafaria said he is not running for re-election because he expects to graduate in December, he had some tips for his successor. "In the future, I would personally like to see attendance requirements for all UA members," he added. "Should they miss a certain number of meetings, then they lose their position to the next highest vote-getter." The candidates' introductory meeting differed from past years in that the Fair Practices Code was not read in its entirety. "Hopefully, [the candidates] understood the rules," College senior and Nominations and Elections Committee Chairperson Rick Gresh said. "Normally, when we read the FPC, candidate meetings last a couple of hours." NEC Chairperson of Elections Roy Fu, a College senior, said he believed the meeting went well. Gresh said he was happy with last year's voter turnout of 21 percent, although he still hopes that there will be an increase this year. In addition to the candidates, four referenda will be on the ballot for the voting that takes place next Tuesday and Wednesday.