Campaigning starts for UA

And they're off! The 10-day campaigning period for the 50 candidates for the Undergraduate Assembly officially began at midnight. Continuing a trend that began with last year's elections, at least three-fifths of the candidates are Greek. Also, half of the UA members seeking re-election are Greek. It was unclear last night whether nine of the candidates are affiliated with fraternities or sororities. Members of fraternities and sororities make up about one-third of the undergraduate population. Last year, about two-fifths of UA candidates were Greek. The Nominations and Elections Committee announced this year's candidates at a meeting last night. Only 12 of this year's 31-member UA chose to run for re-election, and current Chairperson and College junior Noah Bilenker was not one of them. Six of the incumbents are freshmen. Former UA secretary Olivia Troye, who resigned her position last month, said the body's ineffectiveness might be responsible for the large exodus of members. "It takes a year for people to notice that the organization isn't going anywhere," Troye said. Of the 31 total candidates vying for 16 seats in the UA, nine are current UA members. College junior and present UA Vice-Chairperson Samara Barend, a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, will seek re-election, as will sophomore Bill Conway, the current treasurer. Also seeking re-election are juniors Carter Byrnes and Jeremy Katz, sophomore Lori Taliaferro and freshman incumbents Michael Bassik, John Glick, Allison Hersh and Melanie Leibner. The races for the five seats up for grabs in the Wharton School are likely to be just as tough, with 10 candidates in the running -- only one of whom is a current representative. Freshman Rishi Bajaj will seek re-election along with junior newcomers Tavis Cannell, Jason Eddleston, Mark Halpern, Brett Klein, Jeffrey Snyder -- a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist -- and Dan Sundheim. Also new to the races are sophomores Ryan Robinson and Josef Merrill and freshman Aaron Karo. Eight candidates will face off for the three open seats in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, including two incumbents. Junior representative Hadley Harris and freshman Theo Le Compte both hope to stay on another term. Also running will be freshmen Joey Levin, Malhar Saraiya and Campbell Austin, a Daily Pennsylvanian staff member; sophomore Joshua McGrath; and juniors Edward Calvesbert and Jesse Janosov. Also, Nursing sophomore Keri Hyde will run unopposed for the school's one open seat, replacing junior Olivia Voellmicke. UA members cited everything from general disillusionment to the large number of departing seniors as reasons for the relatively small percentage of incumbents seeking re-election. Current UA members who chose not to run for re-election cited a variety of personal reasons including other commitments and study-abroad programs. Bilenker said he will not run again partly because of the one-term limit on chairpersonship and also because he feels he can accomplish his goals without the help of the UA. And College sophomore and current UA member Matt Chait, who also opted not to run for re-election, said he does not think "the administration respects the body."