Bassik elected as UA chairman

Malhar Saraiya will be vice chairman. Michael Krouse will serve as treasurer and Dana Hork was elected secretary. At a marathon six-hour transition meeting last night, the Undergraduate Assembly elected its executive board for the next year, choosing three-year UA veteran and College junior Michael Bassik as chairman. The 25 members elected five executive board members -- chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, secretary and University Council representative -- at the annual meeting held in Stouffer Triangle last night. Bassik, the two-time highest vote getter in the College, served as the UA's treasurer this year and vice chairman of the body before that. He ran for chairman last year and lost out to College senior and outgoing UA Chairman Michael Silver. With four candidates in the running, the chairman election took three rounds of voting. A candidate must receive a majority of the votes -- if no one wins the necessary 13 votes then the lowest vote getter is eliminated and another round of voting is held. At the beginning of the vote for all five positions, each candidate made a statement, followed by a question-and-answer session with the body. Wharton junior Jonathan Glick, this year's Facilities Committee chairman, was eliminated in the first round and College sophomore and Communications Committee chairwoman Dana Hork was knocked out in the second. In the third and final round, Bassik beat Wharton and Engineering sophomore Michael Krouse, vice chairman of the Student Life Committee. Bassik's appointment continues the recent tradition of having a Greek member in the UA's highest position. He is a Zeta Beta Tau brother and the previous three UA chairmen were members of Phi Kappa Psi. Bassik had tears in his eyes after he won, as he explained that this will be a banner year for the UA. "Together we will truly enter the golden age of the UA, which will have a strong internal structure, strong ties with the administration and be truly respected by the student body," he said. With over 20 candidates running for the five positions, the evening dragged on long after the vote for chairman had ended. The race for vice chair was one of the most competitive races of the night, with six people running for the job and Engineering junior Malhar Saraiya emerging victorious. Hork and Krouse accepted nominations for the position after they lost the race for chair. They were joined by Saraiya, Wharton sophomore and West Philadelphia Committee Co-Chair Dana Becker, Wharton freshman Ethan Kay and College junior Alex Moskowitz. Moskowitz was eliminated in the first round of votes, followed by Becker and Krouse. In the third round, Saraiya was elected vice chair. "[This year] exec is extremely talented. It's going to be the best UA since I've been at school," Saraiya said. Saraiya was also elected recently to serve as next year's Senior Class Board vice president, and has expressed intent to run for chair of Ivy Council. Another UA newcomer, Wharton and Nursing junior Kisimbi Thomas, ran for UA treasurer. He was met by stiff combination from two UA incumbents and one newcomer. Krouse and Kay accepted nominations for the treasurer position after unsuccessfully running for vice chair. And College freshman Seth Schreiberg also ran for the position. Becker, Hork and Glick declined nominations for the position. Glick was the treasurer last year. Krouse was elected in the first round. "[Treasurer] is a very important position. I think I'll gain a lot of experience. I think things turned out for the best," he said. Though only one candidate -- UA newcomer and Engineering sophomore Eric Chen -- had declared the intent to run for secretary before the meeting, several other members dropped down into the race for the position. Joining Chen were UA incumbents Hork and Kay. Hork unsuccessfully ran for the position last year as a newcomer to the body. After Kay was eliminated from the first round of votes, Hork was elected to the post. The last election of the night was for UC representative. Six members were nominated for the position: Glick, College freshman Lara Bonner, Kay, newcomer Jed Gross, Chen and Thomas. Moskowitz and newcomer Kimberly Dobson were also nominated but declined. Gross and Thomas were eliminated after the first round of voting and Bonner was eliminated in the second. Glick won in the third round of voting. While there is less than a month left in the school year, the newly elected UA will hold its first meeting before the end of the semester.

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