34 students to run for 25 spots on the UA

Thirty-four students will vie for the 24 spots on next year's Undergraduate Assembly, according to the Wharton senior Ning Chi Hsu, Nominations and Elections Committee chairperson. The number of candidates has decreased from last year's election, which saw 40 candidates vie for 25 spots, although the numbers have are higher than the 1994 figure of 29 candidates. Of the 33 current members of the UA, fewer than half will be seeking re-election in this spring's election. Fifteen members gave in their petitions to run for the UA, according to Hsu. This number is an improvement over last year, when only 12 incumbent UA members ran for re-election. Five members will be graduating from the University this spring. Two others, Wharton sophomores Alan Danzig and Charley Margosian, are unable to run because of plans to spend a semester abroad. Other students will be leaving the UA due to academic responsibilities. Current UA Secretary Lisa Aspinwall said she would not be running due to a heavy workload as a Nursing senior. Wharton sophomore Hester Wong cited similar reasons for her decision not to seek re-election. "I will not be running in order to focus more time on my major," Wong said. "The UA has done a really good job this year. The only thing that discouraged me was that I did not have a specific goal to accomplish." UA Chairperson and College senior Lance Rogers said he was pleased with the number of current members running for re-election. "I think it says a lot about this year's UA in terms of dedication, accomplishments and interest," he said. Competing for four spots in the School of Engineering and Applied Science will be freshmen Michael Bressler and Chris Hyzer, a current UA member, and sophomores, incumbents Matthew Brletich and Roman Krislav and a new candidate, John Seitz. In Wharton, freshmen Angela Hsu and Peter Wright, sophomore Jed Prevor, junior incumbent Tom Foldesi and current Vice Chairperson and senior Gil Beverly will compete for four seats on the UA. Vying for the 15 seats in the College of Arts and Sciences will be freshmen incumbents Samara Barend, Noah Bilenker and Mark Sagat and new freshmen candidates Hillary Aisenstein, David Futer, Jeremy Katz, Edith Liu, Spencer Sloan and Olivia Troye. College sophomores running for UA include incumbents Tal Golomb, Meredith Hertz, Larry Kamin, Wendy Mongillo, Josh Rockoff and Steve Schorr, the current UA Treasurer, and new candidates Jess McGrath, Julie Minder, Michael Steib, Sean Steinmarc and Evan Witt. Junior Josh Villari will also be running for one of the College seats. Nursing sophomore Rebecca Pisano will run unopposed for the one Nursing seat. There will also be nine seats left open for incoming freshmen, one more than this year, when the body's 33rd seat went to Wharton. Bids for re-election were due to the NEC office yesterday. In order to be placed on the ballot, candidates had to obtain signatures from four percent of the full-time students in their school eligible to vote. Seniors are not considered eligible to vote. Candidates also must turn in a statement from the Office of the University Registrar testifying that they are full-time students in good standing.

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