More minorities running for UA

The UA has traditionally had problems attracting minorities to seek office. This semester, the United Minorities Council and the Undergraduate Assembly began a joint effort to encourage minority students to participate in student government elections. And these efforts may have paid off. This year, a significant number of minority students -- approximately 15 percent of the candidates -- are running for the UA. "We definitely have more minority candidates [running]," Nominations and Elections Committee Vice Chairwoman of Elections Teresa Lee said. Lee did not have exact figures on how many minorities ran last year, but estimated that about 6 to 7 percent of the candidates were minorities. The Wharton and Engineering junior attributed this increase in part to the NEC's extensive poster campaign in the college houses, including DuBois College House -- which houses a significant number of minority students -- urging students to run for the UA. Lee also added that the UA and UMC's efforts to promote minority representation in student government has aided the increase. UMC Chairman Jerome Byam said his organization contributed to the number of minority candidates. "I believe that the UMC actively [went] about encouraging minorities to run for UA positions," the College junior said. "Currently the UA is not representative of the entire student population," he said. Byam added that more minorities would be important in order for the UA to address minority-related issues -- such as the recruitment and retention of minority students and faculty. UA Chairman Michael Silver said that the UA and UMC agreed that both organizations had made efforts to encourage minorities to participate in student government. "[UA-UMC collaboration] helps make UMC members aware of the opportunities the UA can give them," the College senior said. "Having a more diverse UA would give it more legitimacy -- especially when we tackle issues that affect minorities a great deal." College freshman Lara Bonner, one of the four minority students currently on the UA, said that minority representation is definitely a concern. She added that of the minority students serving on the UA, two of them were elected in the fall as incoming freshmen. "[While the] UA as a body is terrific, it definitely doesn't represent the whole student body in terms of racial issues," Bonner said. Bonner added that racial issues were not neglected by the UA since efforts have been made over the semester to work with the UMC to get more minorities to participate in elections. Many minority candidates also explained that they were running to promote minority issues on campus. "It's really important that [the UA] is diverse and is not a one-sided [government body]," said College sophomore Kimberly Dobson, a candidate for the UA. Wharton sophomore and UA candidate James Ku said the UA has not paid attention to particular minority issues. "I don't think the current UA has tried to do anything about [racial integration problems]" Ku said.