Last night, outgoing Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Seth Schreiberg tossed his gavel across the Benjamin Franklin room of Houston Hall to the newly-elected Chairman Jason Levy.
Although Levy missed the catch, he is secure in his position.
Around 60 people, mostly UA members, gathered at 8 p.m. to hear candidates' speeches, ask questions and vote. With only UA members eligible to vote in executive board elections, a minimum of 13 votes is needed to win a spot, according to UA adviser and Director of Student Life Fran Walker.
Levy served as the body's University Council steering representative this past year. He said that he is pleased with the dynamics of the executive board.
"Individually, each member of our board has their own strengths and will definitely bring passion and perspective to the issues that are defined by their respective positions," Levy said. "But our biggest strength is how we will come together as a group."
Engineering and Wharton junior Matt Lattman, after dropping down from the race for chair, was voted into the position of Vice Chairman. College junior Kirsten Grubbs, however, walked away empty-handed after not winning either of the top two executive positions.
College sophomore Jennifer Choi won the treasurer election, Wharton sophomore Yelena Gershman won for secretary, after being defeated by Lattman in the tie-breaking vote for vice chairperson, and Jason Levine won for University Council steering representative.
Gershman, however, did not refer to her initial loss as an upset.
"I feel that everything that I wanted to accomplish as the vice chair, I will accomplish as the secretary."
Bridging the gap between the internal affairs of the UA and the external relations that they foster is a priority of the new executive board.
Schreiberg said that the body is well-conditioned to begin composing those necessary ties.
"We were able to tackle most of the internal problems this year that had prevented us from making some of the tangible changes that may have been expected of us," Schreiberg said. "By getting those internal issues sorted out, next year we are in such a great position to get back to what we're supposed to do."
Levine praised all of Levy's past accomplishments and plans to use his achievements as a template for his own. "Everything I've done on the UA is with his guidance.... I want to make sure that what he did to structure the [UC] body is enforced and put into place next year."
The Nominations and Elections Committee, who mediated the UA transition meeting, also underwent their own executive transitions last night. After the UA meeting, outgoing Chairwoman Rebecca Silberman passed the NEC onto College junior Melissa LaVigne, elected chairwoman as of Monday evening. Silberman said that she is confident in the NEC's future leaders.
LaVigne "has the drive, the commitment and the passion to bring not only the NEC, but student government as a whole to new heights," Silberman said.
LaVigne also was hopeful of the NEC's direction. "The body has so much energy after this year, and I cannot wait to harness that energy and move ahead," LaVigne said.
Schrei-berg said that he was also hopeful in the future of student government at Penn and encouraged the involvement of all members by saying that "leadership is not a position."
He stressed the importance of all members in questioning their leaders, because "the best way to keep the UA accountable is to keep the executive board accountable," he said.
Levy said he hopes to expand on that issue by insuring "that every UA member has time to reflect upon why they ran and what issues they feel passionate about."
Staff reporter Spencer Willig contributed to this report.
