NEC works to fill vacant posts

Several weeks into the new semester, the issue of empty class board positions faces all three current boards -- especially the junior class, which has more empty positions than not. After last spring's undergraduate elections, only four of the nine Junior Class Board positions were filled, leaving the class without a secretary, treasurer, vice president for corporate sponsorship, College of Arts and Sciences representative or Nursing School representative, according to Junior Class President David Peretz. The sophomore and senior classes face similar problems, though on a smaller scale. The sophomore class is missing an Engineering representative and the senior class is without a College or Nursing representative. The job of filling the positions falls to the Nominations and Elections Committee, which is working in conjunction with class board members to find students to fill the vacancies by the end of next week. NEC Vice Chairperson for Nominations Brian Rosenzweig, a College junior, said the NEC placed an ad in The Daily Pennsylvanian last week advertising the available positions. Interested students were told to contact the respective class presidents by the beginning of this week, Rosenzweig said. The class presidents were then responsible for asking the applicants to submit responses to one or two questions. From this initial group, Rosenzweig explained, the class boards select several candidates to be interviewed by a panel of NEC and class board members. The panel then chooses the students to fill the empty positions. The NEC is "required" to ensure that all of the class board positions are filled, according to NEC Chairperson Christine Naselaris, a College senior. "We have to fill the positions at the beginning of the semester," she said, adding that any positions which are not filled after the first attempt must be readvertised until a suitable candidate is found. Peretz said he was unconcerned about the unfilled board positions, adding that many good candidates responded to the NEC ad. "We've got some really great responses," he said. "Everyone [who applied] seemed pretty qualified." Peretz said that 14 students submitted applications for the five vacant spots on the Junior Class Board. Applicants were not asked to apply for specific positions, he said. Instead, the current board members and members of the NEC will select from the pool of applicants to fill the positions, he said. However, Peretz noted, the board received no applicants from the Nursing School, so the Nursing position will remain unfilled for now. While he said that he was generally unconcerned by the absence of any Nursing applicants, Peretz added that the Junior Class Board is "extremely interested in filling the position." Peretz noted that all 14 applicants were being asked to have interviews for the board positions. Sophomore Class President Alex Tolbert said he received four applications for the open Engineering seat on the Sophomore Class Board. "Four is a pretty good number," he said, adding that the student to fill the empty spot would likely be selected next week. Senior Class President Lisa Marshall said she received 11 applications for the open College seat on the Senior Class Board, but only one application for the Nursing position. Five of the 11 College applicants will be asked to have interviews with NEC and senior class board members, she said, while the sole Nursing applicant will be given the Nursing seat. Marshall added that students who are not selected for the positions can work as at-large members of the board during the next two semesters, allowing them to play a role in the board's work without having official positions. "There's a lot of people who we really do want to work with," she said, adding that at-large members "ended up contributing a lot" to the work of last year's Junior Class Board.