Conway elected UA chair after four two-way ties

Conway and College junior Jeremy Katz vied for the post after College junior Samara Barend was eliminated in the first vote. and Katie Maloney Continuing the recent trend of marathon elections, the Undergraduate Assembly spent four hours last night in the bowels of Stouffer College House electing its new executive board, selecting College sophomore and former Treasurer Bill Conway as chairperson. The new members of the UA -- elected earlier this month -- nominated and cast their ballots for the body's five steering committee positions: chairperson, vice chairperson, treasurer, secretary and University Council representative. The election proceedings, which were run by the Nominations and Elections Committee, allowed for a statement from the current position-holder as well as from each of the nominees, followed by a question-and-answer period. The first, and most hotly contested race, was for the position of chairperson, which was laden with controversy. After the initial vote, outgoing Vice Chairperson and College junior Samara Barend was eliminated from the race, leaving only two candidates: Conway and UA incumbent Jeremy Katz, a College junior. The race between these two nominees was closely watched as there were rumors that Katz, a Zeta Beta Tau brother, had solicited votes from the nine ZBT members recently elected to the UA. Many of the questions in the question-and-answer period were slightly hostile toward Katz, who was questioned sharply about his attendance at UA and Council meetings, as well as the broad nature of his proposals. Fraternity ties brotherhood ultimately proved insufficient to elect Katz, as Conway managed to edge him out after an unprecedented five ballots. Conway was elected only after the assembly passed a motion to suspend the UA bylaws calling for a quorum of 13 votes to elect a candidate. It was decided that a simple majority was sufficient after the repeated toss-up votes. Katz then declined Conway's nomination for vice chairperson, and College freshman Michael Bassik was elected to the position. Since Bassik ran unopposed, the assembly passed a motion to bypass formal ballot-casting and simply name him vice chairperson. Katz explained that he "was advised that it was not a desirable position to hold." Bassik, who was completely caught off guard by his selection, accepted the applause with mouth agape. "I was surprised but I definitely appreciated the UA's support," Bassik said. "It's important to have a unified assembly behind the board." Balancing the budget for next year's assembly will be College freshman Jonathan Glick, who ran unopposed for treasurer after Wharton junior Brett Klein declined a nomination. A fourth freshman candidate was elected to next year's executive board to fill the post of secretary, as College freshman Allison Hersh beat out College freshman Melanie Leibner. College freshman Andrew Mandelbaum was also nominated, but declined, noting, "I read the job description, and it sounds like too much work." Each candidate for both the positions of secretary and Council representative were asked by audience members to disclose how they voted in the recent controversial UA decision to allot $30,000 for non-alcoholic campus-wide Greek events. Hersh said she was pleased with her appointment and looked forward to applying her computer knowledge to the UA's Web site. College senior and NEC Chairperson Chris LaVigne termed the final election -- that for Council representative -- "a fitting end for the night" when the ballot count resulted in yet another tie. There were four nominations for the position: College junior David King, College freshman John Buchanan, Engineering freshman Theo LeCompte and Katz, who declined. After three votes, King was declared the victor. Outgoing Chairperson and College junior Noah Bilenker said he was pleased with the outcome of the elections. "I think they elected a fantastic executive board. Although the body as a whole may be harder to work with," he said, noting a possible split between the five Phi Kappa Psi brothers and the 10 ZBT brothers. "I don't think they could have elected any better people," he added Bilenker added that although he was surprised at Bassik's appointment as a freshman, he noted that Bassik's "enthusiasm was quite evident." And he stressed that he is confident Barend will remain active on the UA despite her loss. Conway described the election process as a "gut wrenching" experience, referring to the close competition between him and Katz, a high school classmate. "I'm really excited about the energy of the other board members," Conway said. "Although there are three freshmen, they are all excited to be active and will surely be excellent leaders for the upcoming year." And despite the duration of the meeting, the elections ran "remarkably smoothly," according to LaVigne. "What impressed me most of all was that 24 members of the UA stayed until the final vote for the UC rep," he said. "That really says a lot about the UA. I think the students elected are going to do a great job."